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CQPXR1GHT DEPOSIT. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN 
ADVENTURES 

BY 

M. B. SHELTON 



* 

& 



TfRlSTOPjfER^ 

PUBLISHING 
HOUSE 

BOSTON 



Copyright 1920 
By The Christopher Publishing House 



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A565881 



CONTENTS 
FOREWORD 7 

CHAPTER I 9 

On my way to the Rocky Mountains. Stop 
over at Nashville, Louisville, St. Louis and 
Kansas City. Fight with the Indians while 
crossing the "Great American Desert." Reach 
Denver City in perfect safety. 

CHAPTER II 33 

Arrived in Georgetown. Went to work next 
day. Learning how to mine. First discovery. 
Beautiful mineral but low grade ore. Work on 
"Terrible" mine. Nearly a mining accident. 
Bought half interest in "King David" mine. 
Valuable ore but "petered out." 

CHAPTER III 61 

Could have owned a third interest in "Dives" 
mine. Formed partnership, preferable. Found 
an iceberg a million years old. Origin of "Boom 
Ditch" idea. Mountain lion, bear and black 
squirrel in chaparral district. Broke another 
one of my seven "dont's" for a short time. 
Spent the winter months merchandising. 



CHAPTER IV 85 

Allow two old men to move into my cabin 
with me. Investigation of Spiritualism. Arrival 
of brother Daniel. We build a flue around a 
high cliff. Judge Harmon pays us a visit. Mc- 
Murty owns the "Dives" mine. David Hersha 
dies. Visit of U. S. Grant. Commence tunnel 
on the "King David" mine. Arrival of brother 
Shepard. 

CHAPTER V 113 

Lease on Summit mine. Worked on a mine 
discovered by a mineral bob. Work on tunnel. 
A case of lung fever. The big "Pulaska" mine. 
Visited a dance house. Discovered "R. E. Lee" 
and other mines. Sold Shelton tunnel. Decided 
to leave the country. Selling the "Pulaska." A 
new enterprise on tap. 

CHAPTER VI 144 

Prospecting in the San Juan country. Large 
mineral veins but low grade ore. A long trip 
of 250 miles. Failed to reach Gunnison mines. 
Indian trouble. Discouraged return to George- 
town. Agreed with my partners to make an- 
other trip into the mines. Return to my native 
home to stay. 



FOREWORD 

Only a few words are needed as an introduc- 
tion to this little volume. It was my good fortune 
to return home at the close of the Civil War, 
sound in limb and body, without a scratch or scar ; 
but like others of my age without fame or for- 
tune, even a little bit. I gave up an easy position 
with a small salary on January first 1867. With 
a sack full of "wild oats" it was my purpose to go 
into the mining regions of the Rocky Mountains, 
discover a big mine, and "get rich quick." To my 
mind this seemed plausible, and maybe an easy 
thing to do. 

My plans and hopes in this direction were simply 
visionary dreams which never materialized. A con- 
tinued series of failures met every effort from be- 
ginning to end. At every turn of the wheel the 
Fates were against me, with nothing left but the 
memory of past events, which I am now recalling 
after nearly half a century. As I look back, the 
past seems to rise before me more like a dream 
than something real. 

The nine years spent in searching for the hidden 
treasures, with many hardships and adventures, 
had all the alluring features of a romance, though 
short of a fortunate hero, always found in ficti- 
tious writings. The one enduring thing left, was 
"a heart for any fate," and ever ready to sing with 
the poet : 

"Thus humbly let me live and die 
Nor long for Midas' golden touch, 
If heaven more generous gifts deny 
I shall not miss them much, 
But grateful for blessings lent 
Of simple taste and mind content." 



Rocky Mountain Adventures 

CHAPTER I 

ON MY WAY TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. STOP 
OVER AT NASHVILLE, LOUISVILLE, ST. LOUIS 
AND KANSAS CITY. FIGHT WITH THE 
INDIANS WHILE CROSSING "THE GREAT 
AMERICAN DESERT." REACH DEN- 
VER CITY IN PERFECT SAFETY 

At the close of the war in 1865 I returned to 
my native village in Northern Alabama. Like a 
great many young men of my age, after this great 
conflict had ended, I was bankrupt in everything 
of value except hope and a willing hand to do 
things. Heaps of ashes could be seen in place of 
happy homes that once existed. The solitary, and 
now useless, chimney stems were pointing to the 
blue sky above like silent sentries guarding some 
desolate coast. We may mention with complacency 
the ravages of war, but we have no right to com- 
plain, for that was part of the programme from 
the beginning, and nothing more than might be 
expected, when victory went to the other side. 

Only one store building was left which was oc- 
cupied by a sutler. By permission he was allowed 
to sell a certain line of goods to the Federal army, 
a part of which was still encamped around our 
village. He offered me a position as clerk, which 
I gladly accepted, on the principle that a drowning 
man will grab at a straw. All my former aspira- 
tions of obtaining a still higher education had been 
cast aside and lost in the maelstrom of "Secession." 
But to my mind a clerkship, and by no means a 
large salary, was a very slow way to retrieve my 



10 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

fallen fortune, so I was thinking and dreaming of 
something more active. 

Gold had been discovered in California in 1849. 
Men went wild if not crazy over the excitement. 
Large fortunes were made by men, whether they 
were worthy of them or not. Of course glowing 
descriptions of the country, and the great wealth 
men were accumulating, were published in all the 
leading papers and magazines, but they failed to 
tell that for every success there were at least one 
hundred failures. These auriferous products of 
Nature were discovered in liberal quantities in 
1859 on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains 
near Denver, Colorado. The old excitement had 
partly subsided, but the world was set on fire a 
second time. The war between the States covered 
the blaze, so to speak, for four years, but the 
embers were there waiting to be uncovered, when 
the time was ripe. 

In the early part of 1867 with a few hundred 
dollars and several of those "sparks of Hope" still 
alive and ready for duty, I decided to "beard the 
lion" in his den. As it was then too early in the 
year, the season not being suitable to cross the 
plains or prospect for gold in the mountains, I 
accepted for the time a position in a wholesale 
dry goods store in Nashville, Tenn., to terminate 
at my own option. 

In a very quiet manner, and agreeable to all 
parties, my contract as salesman was canceled, 
which left me entirely free to continue my con- 
templated trip to the mountains in quest of gold 
and silver, one or both. I left Nashville about May 
20th without any definite idea of how I would 
reach my destination. As seeing things was one 
object in view I concluded to visit Mammoth Cave, 
Kentucky, but it would require too much space to 
describe this greatest cavern in all the earth. It 
took three days to get back to the railroad, but the 
sights were worth the trip. 

A few days were spent in Louisville, Ky., and 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 11 

while there I visited the old prison barracks, where 
as a prisoner of war I was an inmate of the hos- 
pital department for nearly two months, with some 
uncertainty about getting well, but the building 
had been removed and I failed to recognize the 
place. One object I had in taking this route was 
to travel as much as possible by water. To me 
this was the most pleasant mode of traveling. 
Further down the river I stopped off a few days 
at Henderson, Ky. Here the people had been very 
kind to me just after I had been released from 
Camp Chase prison. I had the pleasure of meeting 
many warm friends. 

While there Mr. Soaper asked me why I failed 
to answer his letter, some ten months previous. 
He said that on learning Mr. Watterman could 
not comply with his contract, in which I was to 
assist him as teacher in the high school, that he 
had written me to return and resume my former 
position in his store. If I had received that letter 
in all probability Henderson would have been my 
future home, for I liked the city, and liked the 
people. But the time had passed and the current 
had drifted into another channel. It often happens 
that a very small matter, if taking place at a cer- 
tain time, may change the whole trend of life. 

From that place I went all the way to Kansas 
City, Mo., by water, changing boats at Paducha 
and at St. Louis, remaining in the latter place 
nearly a week to see the city and the sights. They 
were playing Black Crook, a spectacular produc- 
tion, at the theater, and had been for a hundred 
and sixty nights consecutively, and expected to 
continue. It was a mixture of the grand and the 
beautiful. I took passage on a boat three days 
before it left on purpose so I would have a nice 
place to stay without additional cost of a board 
bill. The pilot of the boat having nothing to do, 
showed me the attractive features of the city. 

It took six days on the boat from St. Louis to 
Kansas City. From this place a stage line made 



12 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

three trips each week to Denver, Col. They of- 
fered to sell me a ticket from Kansas to Denver 
for $100.00, but I paid my own way to Salina nearly 
100 miles, and the agent there asked me $110.00 
for a ticket to Denver. This was the Western idea 
of doing business, or maybe there was a little 
"graft" in this price. Late in the evening, while 
sitting in front of the hotel (it pased for such) 
the stage all the way from Denver drove up, and 
five or six passengers got out and off the coach. 

This was the first conveyance of that character 
I had ever seen, and with a little "cheek" asked 
the driver to let me ride with him around to the 
barn. I told the driver my intention of going to 
Denver and he remarked, "All right we can put you 
there in five or six days and maybe less time." It 
was over 500 miles, and the stage went day 
and night after it started. The passengers were 
supposed to sleep on their seats, or if in the 
summer time, out on top. On examining the coach 
I noticed in the boot, which is attached to the rear 
part and used for carrying baggage and other 
parcels, that there was a good deal of blood. In 
answer to my question about it the driver replied 
that the stage on the way had been "held up" by 
robbers. One of the passengers not willing to 
give up his money was killed and his body was put 
in the boot and carried to the next station for 
burial. 

At first I thought it was only a joke to frighten 
a "tenderfoot," but returning to the hotel and in- 
terviewing one of the passengers I found he had 
made a correct report. This same party said: "if 
you expect to cross the plains I would advise you 
to see the banker here and leave your money with 
him, and he will fix every thing so you can get 
your money from a banker in Denver. About 
fifteen or twenty dollars is all you will need. They 
charge one dollar for a good meal along the road. 
I have been in several "hold ups" but have made it 
a point not to have much they want. These des- 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 13 

perados certainly mean business every time, and 
there is no use losing your life and money too. By 
keeping quiet and offering no resistance they will 
not hurt you or anyone." 

This was one of the ways the "Great American 
Desert," as called in former times, was crossed in 
1867. Of course numerous emigrant trains had 
passed over this route in former years, carrying 
their own supplies, and in such numbers as to 
secure their mutual protection. There was still 
another, perhaps more heroic, way of crossing, at 
least it required muscle and endurance. The ad- 
ventures and hardships of this latter way I will 
try to call to mind as they occurred. 

Early next morning while walking down the 
street I passed a gentleman standing on the side- 
walk, gazing at a crowd on the other side. He ap- 
peared to me, as pictured in my mind, an ideal 
frontier-man. He wore high-top boots, a broad- 
brim hat, a heavy mustache and rather long hair. 
As an introduction is unnecessary in the Western 
country I proceeded to tell him I was a stranger 
here and would be glad to receive any information 
in regard to the best way to reach the Rocky Moun- 
tains out beyond the plains. 

fie replied: "Well judging from your appearance, 
perhaps the best way for you will be to go by 
stage. It will put you there quickest, and in an 
ordinary way safe enough. However, there is 
another way. I happen to be the owner of a wagon 
train now encamped three or four miles out on 
the way, and nearly ready to start. I need two 
more drivers and am here today looking for them." 

This was all new to me for I had never seen a 
wagon train, except those used in the army but felt 
myself ready for nearly anything. I said to him : 
"Captain, it strikes me that I would like to go 
with you. What will I be required to do and how 
much do you pay?" 

"It may not suit you," he replied. "There are 
sixty-six wagons and each one is pulled by ten 



14 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

oxen. You will be expected to drive one of these 
teams, and yoke up as well as unyoke the oxen 
you drive twice each day. I pay one dollar per day 
and furnish something to eat." 

"In my opinion, Captain, if that is all, you can 
count me already on the job," I replied. "In my 
early days we used nothing on the farm but oxen, 
except for plowing and riding, so I understand 
their nature and how to handle them. When you 
are ready to start for camp give the motion, and 
I will go with you. I can get ready in a few 
minutes." 

"Just wait a minute," he said, "let me tell you 
something. The first thing to do is to get those 
fine duds off and put away. They will be no use 
to you on the plains. Here, I will go and show you 
exactly what to get. A pair of heavy overalls, and 
four or five dark colored cotton work shirts ; you 
may need a change, and there will be no time to 
wash clothes after we begin to move. And this 
hat like mine you will need to protect you from 
the hot sun, also from the sand-storms we may 
have to go through. A pair of boots, neither coarse 
or fine, you will have special use for them. It may 
take us six weeks to reach Denver." 

With these purchases I made my way back to 
the hotel, and when I emerged, clothed in my new 
frontier suit it is doubtful if my former associates 
would have known, or been willing to recognize, 
me. Of course it is not the clothing that makes 
the man, but they are a fairly good index to his 
occupation and ideas about society. 

Meeting the Captain later, in the early after- 
noon, he said : "You are all right now. I have found 
another man and we are nearly ready to start. Get 
your grip (which was a regular leather valise) 
and carry it down to the stable, and I will carry 
it out in front of me. But before we start step 
over to the harness shop and get a black-snake 
whip which you will need as a driver of oxen. Get 
a good one; it will cost you $1.50, but you can't 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 15 

do without it." We took a kind of turkey-trot 
walk and reached camp in good shape. 

This day was really the beginning- of my West- 
ern life, and is one reason why I have described 
the events a little more in detail than usual. Al- 
though I have commenced the records of my 
Western life from the time I left Nashville, yet 
traveling on steam-boats with absolutely nothing 
to do is more like taking a pleasure trip. Living 
like a regular Nabob, and going to theatres in big 
cities is really no part of a Western life, such as I 
experienced for many years. The real beginning 
should date from the time I met Captain Carlile 
on the sidewalk in the street of Salina, Mo. 

Our encampment, so-called, consisted of a corral 
made by all the wagons, so arranged when driven 
into position as to form an oblong circle and nearly 
closed at each end, and containing about an acre of 
land. The rainy season, for this section, had not yet 
subsided. Mr. Carlile, the owner of the train, told 
me there was not much use of starting before the 
tenth or fifteenth of June, which was nearly at hand 
That he had made twelve or fifteen trips across 
the plains, often loading at Kansas City. That he 
knew the road all the way by heart, especially 
the bad places, and for many miles this was one 
of them. 

With this information I began to feel a greater 
degree of safety in crossing this long stretch of 
desolate country. As the wagons were already 
loaded and their tongues pointing to the west, a 
courier was sent out to tell the herders to bring 
in the cattle. In about two hours here they came, 
660 oxen; it looked like a thousand or more, but 
they were all driven into the corral, and chains 
stretched across each end to keep them there. 

It was the duty of each driver to pick out ten 
oxen that would be his to drive on the entire trip. 
The oxen all had big wide horns except two mulies, 
and before they went into the corral, I claimed 
them as mine. With a bow in my hand I went into 



16 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

the corral, as did others, and picked out a large 
ox for my right or off wheeler, and took him to 
my wagon and put him under yoke. When each 
one of the drivers did this, then we all took an 
even start with bow in hand and brought out an 
ox to match the other, as a near wheeler, and put 
him under yoke. This was repeated until the ten 
oxen stood ready to drive. 

When everything was complete Mr. Carlile passed 
around the train to notice the selections made by 
the different drivers. When he reached my team 
he said: "Pard, you have picked out the best team 
in the "outfit"; perhaps he said that to others. It 
was the custom in the Western country to call 
everything an "outfit" from a pin to a steam en- 
gine. He said putting the mulies in the swing, 
that is in the center of the team, was a good idea. 
This was my second day on duty and my first 
"stunt." (The last word is of course slang with 
a different meaning from the word found in the 
dictionary. The man out West that could not use 
slang had better take down his sign.) 

When the order was given to "pull out" it meant 
that the front wagon of the right wing, driven by 
White Jim, was to start, and all the other wagons 
of that wing followed in regular file. In this way 
the right wing led the van in the forenoon. In the 
afternoon the front wagon of the left wing, driven 
by Black Jim, the only colored man in the train, 
took the front lead, all of the right wing in the 
rear. My place was in the center of the right 
wing, each one having his special place. This plan 
was continued across the Great American Desert, 
at the rate of ten or fifteen miles per day. 

On the fourth day out we "hung up" at one of 
those bad places where the land was low and there 
seemed to be no way to go around some other 
way. The stage went by in a gallop and hardly left 
a print on the turf, but the heavy-loaded wagons 
moving much slower cut through, that is a number 
of them did. I managed to guy my team a little 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 17 

to one side, as did others, and by keeping the 
wheels moving easily went across ; however, ten 
or fifteen were down with their axles on the turf, 
which meant lots of work to get them out. 

A corral was formed out about a half mile on 
higher ground, and we remained there five days 
before getting ready to start. It was the duty of 
the night herders to bring in the cattle, when we 
were on the move, at barely good daylight, but 
when detained in camp they were relieved by a 
detail of three men, who remained on duty until 
past 9 A. M. when another relief was sent, which 
on this occasion fell to my lot. The duty of a 
herder is to keep the cattle together as much as 
possible, and try to keep them not more than two 
miles from camp, which is sometimes hard to do. 

This was the third day of our encampment, and 
my first duty of this character. About 11 o'clock 
I noticed a dark cloud looming up above the south- 
ern horizon. By noon it began to look very threat- 
ening and I was wishing for the third relief due 
at 1 P. M. The lightning in vivid streaks reached 
clear down to the ground and the thunder seemed 
to shake the earth, such earth as it was. The rum- 
bling sounds of the upper deep failed to cause a 
cheerful feeling. But all this grandeur of the ele- 
ments was cut short for me by the timely arrival 
of the third relief. 

In the distance the white sheets over the wagons 
were plainly in view, tho not less than one and a 
half miles away. Under the circumstances I asked 
my legs to take me there as quickly as possible. 
This electrical display no longer had any charms 
for me. The race was not of the "turkey-trot" kind. 
It was gratifying to feel that my legs were "on the 
job" all the time and succeeded in making precisely 
an even race. I have read graphic descriptions of 
great storms upon the ocean, where ships and 
sailors go down in the sea. None the less terrible 
are the great cyclonic disturbances upon these 
treeless plains. In fact, the rolling undulations of 



18 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

the land reminds me of the waves seen upon the 
ocean. 

Our wagons were loaded with 7,000 pounds of 
freight and locked together in corral shape, 
making us safe against hurricanes and whirling 
winds. The rain may and doubtless did fall in 
sheets of water, but my business now was strictly 
on the inside, and I had no time to look out. The 
lirst thing was to tighten the guy strings of the 
wagon sheet, and even with this precaution a mist 
came through enough to wet a man in a short time, 
but with several ply of blankets I kept in a manner 
dry. A sense of security, and the thought of 
barely missing the pelting rain mixed with hail, 
rather prepared me to enjoy the fury of the out- 
side torrent, made glorious by heaven's finest 
artillery. 

In about two hours the rain subsided, the clouds 
passed away and the sun came out and shone as 
beautifully as ever, and even more so, leaving a 
quiet impression that nothing had happened. Some 
of the boys were surprised to see me as they 
thought we were still on the high commons. Mr. 
Carlile and his two assistants rode out north five 
or six miles and found the herders trying to bring 
the cattle back. It was after night before they re- 
turned to camp, and hearing them tell of their 
adventures and hardships made me feel like shak- 
ing hands with myself for being lucky enough to 
miss that drive "by the skin of my teeth." 

After leaving Salina I noticed all along for 
twenty or thirty miles out that some one had 
plowed deep furrows around plots of land, which 
may have been future settlers marking off their 
claims. The soil was dark and had the appearance 
of being fertile. The land was level, and without 
trees, shrubs or rocks, making a farmer's regular 
Paradise with nothing lacking but wood. This con- 
tinued all the way out to the place where we were 
then camping some fifty or sixty miles. Just a short 
distance south of us the U. P. R. R. was laying 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 19 

track at the rate of one or two miles each day. 
In all probability this entire section is producing 
corn and wheat in large quantities, as there was 
plenty of rain for agricultural purposes. Mr. Car- 
lile remarked that no doubt this was his last time 
to cross these bad places that had given him so 
much trouble. 

We were now in the central part of the great 
state of Kansas, and from this point further on 
the ground was higher and we moved more rapidly. 
From this time it was the same all the way across 
the prairie. Every morning, while a big star was 
still twinkling in the East, some one made heavy 
raps on the side of the wagon and called out 
witha lusty voice ; "Roll out, roll out, the cattle 
's in the cavey yard." Often it seemed that I 
would have given "half my kingdom" for another 
hour of sleep. 

If anyone said anything about breakfast he was 
simply "talking thru his hat." Not any — not even 
a crumb. No time to eat now. We usually drove 
from five to eight miles in four to six hours, the 
distance depending upon a suitable camping place 
where both water and grass could be found, two 
things absolutely necessary. The further we went, 
it seemed the more barren and desolate the coun- 
try. If some one should be curious enough to ask 
where we got wood to do our cooking, the answer 
would be easy by telling him that we used "buffalo 
chips" which we found along the side of the road, 
and it was easy to put them in a sack hung on 
the wagon for that purpose. Some of them were 
nearly two feet in diameter and made a splendid 
fire. In the afternoon we always started out about 
3 P. M. and continued to move until we reached 
the next good camping place, sometimes 8 o'clock. 

My time to go on herd duty was about once each 
week, and after the first one hundred miles further 
out, I found a special use for boots. It was 
not convenient to watch the foot-step while watch- 
ing the cattle, but unless careful I might step on 



20 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

a rattlesnake. They seem to congregate in colonies 
or at least they were more numerous in some places 
than others. In certain localities it was no unusual 
thing to see hundreds of acres infested with these 
reptiles. They seemed to be a little careless about 
getting out of the way, but if given a little time 
would glide out of the way to one side. If I was 
to make a reckless statement of seeing ten thous- 
and snakes in one day someone might want me 
to "fall a snake or two," but they were there to 
be seen all the same. While the "rattler" showed 
signs of anger by the singing of his tail, yet in his 
behalf I can say he bit no one, not even an ox. 

Two other denizens of the prairie occupied the 
same territory, noted more as objects of curiosity 
than otherwise. One of these, the prairie dog, 
which in size and color resembled a fox squirrel, 
though with tail and head like a dog. He was 
conspicuous along the route, especially when pass- 
ing through his "city." He stands erect upon the 
threshold of his burrow, erect like a soldier at "pre- 
sent arms," but on the approach of danger seeks 
refuge in the windings of his subterranean home. 
The other little creature alluded to is the prairie 
owl, about the size of a pigeon, and singular, as it 
seems it too claims an ownership in this hole in 
the ground as a protection from wind and weather. 
But still more curious it the fact that the rattle- 
snake makes this burrow his home also. Whether 
the little dog invites his guest to share the bene- 
fits of his home, and built apartments convenient 
for their use, or they occupied his home by force 
of invasion, is not a matter for me to decide. In 
the science of zoonomy we are not able to find a 
similar instance where three distinct species of 
creation dwell together in peace and harmony. 

Traveling days and weeks without seeing a tree 
or even a bush was growing monotonous. The 
country in the main was level, though undulating, 
with sage bushes between higher places. Off in 
the distance small herds of buffalo and antelope 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 21 

could be seen nearly every day. One of the drivers 
with a long range rifle, side stepped, so to speak, 
and by a lucky shot killed a young buffalo. That 
night and next day seventy men had something 
good to eat. This occurred in the Smoky Hill River 
section. That night several of the drivers reported 
seeing groups of Indians off on the higher points. 

The assistant "boss" took upon himself next 
day to vedette for the train and keep us from 
falling in ambush by the Indians, which was all 
right for us but not for him. Late that evening, 
nearly sundown, in plain view of the train, and 
about a mile away we saw three of the "red-skins" 
make a rushing covert attack upon him. Evidently, 
from some cause, he had not seen them, for we 
saw the smoke from his gun, and saw him fall at 
the same time, and by this we knew his earthly 
career was over and his doom was sealed. 

The entire train was stopped and about a dozen 
of us went out and brought him in. They had 
taken his watch, money and saddle, but his horse 
was grazing not far away. They also took a piece 
of scalp from the back part of his head, about three 
or four inches in diameter. That night we buried 
him, of course without a coffin, from the light of 
a fire made of buffalo chips. It was a sad and 
gloomy scene, and caused us to realize that the 
only good Indian was a dead one. After this tra- 
gical event the driver with a long range gun did 
not make any more "side steps" to bring in young 
buffalo. 

A few days later we crossed Smoky River, or 
what passed for a river. As far as I could see it 
was nothing but an area of sand one or two miles 
wide. It was reported by knowing ones that the 
water was running under the sand all right, but I 
happened to be very busy at that time and could 
not stop and dig down to verify the fact, so had 
to take their word for it. 

A short distance, perhaps ten miles further, we 
came to a "sure enough" spring, coming out of 



22 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

the earth like springs do back in the United States. 
By making a long drive we got there about noon, 
and remained there the balance of the day and all 
night to give the cattle time to rest and graze 
on the fine grass growing down the branch. There 
had been quite a grove of trees there of the cotton- 
wood variety, judging from the stumps. The trees 
had been used in building a fort called Wallace, 
and a number of federal soldiers were stationed 
here at that time. We learned from them that 
the Indians, quite a number of them, were now 
on the war path, because the limbs of these trees 
now removed had been used by them as a burial 
place for their dead . 

The "noble red men of the forest" had donned 
their red paint, and very little of anything else, a 
short time before, and we were just now receiving 
our first intelligence of the fact. They had been 
peaceable for many years before. We were just 
in time to be "in the midst thereof," and it was 
just as safe to go on as it was to turn back ; in 
fact we were nearer Denver City than Salina, so 
the only way was to fight our way through, if 
necessary. 

It seemed to me there was very little use in 
cutting down these trees, as there was no use in 
building a fort, especially while the Indians were 
peaceable. It was entirely useless as it gave no 
one protection except those on the inside, and be- 
sides the railroad would be across the plains in 
another year, and the traveling would be a pleasure 
instead of a peril. The stage coach had not passed 
us for nearly a week, which further convinced us 
we might have trouble. 

The weather was hot and dry, and the roadway 
firm the balance of our journey. We were making 
better headway than usual until next day about 4 
F. M. the unterrified, uncouth and uncivilized "red 
skins" made a dash upon the rear part of the 
train and cut off four wagons. The fourth wagon 
had only six oxen to it and contained our supplies, 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 23 

also extra yokes and chains. It seems the object 
of this raiding party was something to eat. In 
some way they knew or guessed mighty well 
where the supplies were kept. When the fourth 
wagon was stopped the other three behind it did 
the same ; the drivers made no defense but went 
running towards th front, spreading the alarm. 
Not a gun was fired on either side. 

A train of sixty-six wagons and teams when 
strung out in single file will reach over a mile, 
but the word was quickly passed up the line to the 
front wagon. It required several minutes, but from 
the thirtieth wagon back we formed in regular bat- 
tle style and charged back to the rear, but "Lo poor 
indian" was gone and out of sight. He had carried 
with him all the sugar, salt and lard he could find. 
According to estimate there were not more than 
fifteen or twenty of them. The two wings drove 
along by the side of each other to the next camp- 
ing place. 

A council was held that night and it was decided 
we would start out next morning four abreast, 
which would put me in one of the front wagons 
on the extreme right. This was done in order to 
keep the wagons as close together as possible. 
The cattle were kept in the corral that night and 
a cordon of six pickets, relieved at midnight, was 
placed around the wagons in order to avoid a sur- 
prise attack that might be made. Others slept 
under their wagons in touch of their firearms, so 
as to be ready on quick notice. 

Mr. Carlile explained to us that they would try 
to stampede the cattle as well as kill the drivers. 
Western men understood that any animals of the 
bovine kind, including the buffalo, when stampeded 
want to run, and really with that scare on them 
have no cow sense. We were out twelve or fifte . i 
miles from Fort Wallace, and near the state line 
between Kansas and Colorado. Next morning in 
the distance on high places, we could see the In- 
dians dashing along on their ponies. About 8 A. M. 



24 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

they came upon us with a mighty rush, whoop- 
ing, yelling and shooting. 

Their attack was made on our left front, riding 
at full speed and bent over on the opposite side of 
their ponies. There were about fifty or seventy-five 
of them and as they passed my corner, making 
the turn of the circle, my old Colt revolver spoke 
back to them four times. Of course the oxen were 
a kind of breast-work for me, except my head 
and shoulders. They were not more than sixty 
or seventy yards distant, riding in single file. Pos- 
sibly they expected us to run but we did not. 

They made a complete circuit around the 
wagons, but this time at least a hundred and fifty 
yards distant, which showed they were getting 
weak on the job. As they passed the second time 
my old Colt only spoke twice more, to let them 
know it was still on speaking terms. The one in 
front, or the leader, carried a black flag, which 
meant they took no prisoners. After this esca- 
pade they rode off a half mile or so and stopped 
near our roadway, enough to say: "You can't 
come this way." Orders were given to form the 
wagons into a corral and take the oxen on the 
inside. No one knew their intentions, and the 
situation began to look serious. What next to do 
was a very important question. 

One of the "bucks" was waving a black flag about 
a hundred and fifty yards distant. I could not see 
him while standing on the tongue of my wagon, so 
climbed up the front with my head near the bow 
that holds the covering. This was a foolish thing 
to do. The solid character and curvature of the 
bow threw the bullet from his gun downward and 
across the corral hitting one of the boys on the 
hip, causing a big blue spot but bringing no blood. 
I carefully examined the print of the bullet on the 
bow and found it did not miss my head more than 
three or four inches. 

An inventory of our arms showed only forty 
pieces all told, and nearly all these were of the 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 25 

pistol variety. Our adversaries, from appearance, 
were armed with breech-loading carbines and 
also side arms. On examination I found six or 
eight bullet holes in the upper part of my wagon 
and through its covering, showing they had shot 
too high. Other wagons showed the same effect, 
but next time they might aim lower. There must 
have been two or three hundred shots fired on 
both sides and it was a very strange thing to me 
that neither man nor beast received even a wound. 
It is not reasonable to think the whole thing was 
for the purpose of gun play. On my own part I 
was not much scared or excited, and I know my 
shots were fired to hit something. 

We often read in novels and in some histories 
about the Indian war-whoop, but if this yell heard 
that day was the real thing, then my ideas were 
somewhat perverted. It was more like the wild 
howl of a dog that ended with several sharp barks. 
However, they caused one to have a kind of 
creepy feeling and wish himself somewhere else 
quick. It is all a mistake to say these war bucks 
won't fight, can't shoot worth a cent, nor don't 
know how to ride. These three things are their 
stock in trade, and by them they make a living. 

We could see them collecting their forces not a 
mile away, and expecting them to renew the at- 
tack at any minute. Mr. Carlile had a field glass 
and we could easily see the commotion caused by 
a fresh arrival to their ranks. Out on four or five 
high points they built fires, and the smoke was a 
signal for twenty miles around, which brought 
in the recruits. Their long spears with bright tips 
on the end, made a war-like impression of a savage 
nature to say the least, and served to increase 
that creepy feeling previously referred to. There 
was no disguising the fact that our situation was 
growing more critical and gloomy. Visions of 
tomahawks and scalping knives seemed not far 
away. 

A council of war was held among us to devise 



26 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

some plan of safety if possible. We knew our de- 
ficiency in arms, but our enemy did not know that, 
and doubtless thought we were supplied in that 
respect as sensible men ought to have been. And 
further, they knew we could use the wagons and 
their contents as fortifications which would be 
greatly to our advantage. Still we were uneasy 
over the prospects and anxious for some definite 
plan for our safety. One of the drivers proposed 
to go back that night to Fort Wallace and if pos- 
sible get the soldiers there and more guns, and 
return by daylight next morning. We were still 
discussing the probability of a night attack when 
Mr. Carlile told us that in his opinion he could see 
soldiers coming to our relief. As they drew nearer 
we could see more plainly, and in the joy of our 
hearts got our artillery in shape and started to 
meet them. 

The Indians were busy watching us most of the 
time and had not seen the approaching soldiers 
until they were about ready to open fire on them. 
The effect of the first volley was to send them 
flying across the plains, though some of them did 
make a stand long enough to shoot back. And 
this is the last time we saw any Indians while 
crossing the plains. This might have been and was 
a poor way of celebrating the Fourth of July, but 
it was not of our choosing. Four years previous 
I had celebrated the day by being captured as a 
prisoner of war; neither was that of my choosing. 

We met our rescuers with a profusion of thanks, 
and it might be truly said with glad hearts, for 
there is no way of telling what would have been 
our fate. The troops, about seventy-five or a hun- 
dred were furnished as an escort to the famous 
Gen. Hancock who had checked the great charge 
of Picket at Gettysburg, who in turn had charged 
the bloody angle at Spottsylvania. He had seen 
our wagons from a distance and knew in reason 
we were besieged by the Indians. We went back 
to the corral and held a council of expediency. The 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 27 

General advised us to go back with him to Fort 
Wallace and remain there two or three days. Ac- 
cording to his ideas these Red Men were mad 
about something, and in keeping with their nature 
would have to fight somebody and then have a 
war dance over it before they could get in a good 
humor and willing to bury the hatchet. 

It was nearly sundown before we got strung 
out on our return, though when night came on 
the moon made it nearly as light as day. We 
reached the same camping ground we had formerly 
occupied about 3 A. M. after an absence of two 
days and nights. The experience of that night 
affords material for remembrance if not for re- 
flection and meditation. Everything that makes 
an unpleasant feature in a healthy man's life was 
crowded together during this long drive. We were 
tired, hungry, thirsty and sleepy, not just a little 
bit either, but a feeling of safety was one consola- 
tion. After a late breakfast next morning most 
of us crawled back in our wagons and went to 
sleep. 

Remaining three days at Fort Wallace we re- 
resumed our journey. The men and cattle too were 
all in fine fettle and the first day out we passed 
the old battle ground and three or four miles 
beyond went into camp. Further along we came 
to higher grounds, a kind of plateau ; the station 
was called First View. From this point the dim 
outlines of the Rocky Mountains could be seen. 
It was over a hundred miles to Denver and the 
crest of the mountains were fifty miles beyond 
that point. At this distance they reminded me of 
an undulating bank of clouds just above the hori- 
zon, a deception not only pleasing to the eye but 
very consoling to the weary foot-sore driver. 

All along this plateau the view of the prairie 
was also magnificent, spreading out like a great 
panorama a hundred miles in every direction. 
There may be more lovely landscapes or more 
beautiful scenery, but I have my doubts that the 



28 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

world affords another view more varied and ex- 
tensive. It is well to mention now, lest I forget 
it, that piles of rock about two feet high were all 
along the route, said to have been put there by- 
John C. Fremont, the "pathfinder," to mark out 
the most direct route to Pike's Peak. I am not able 
to tell where he got the rocks but they were there 
all the same. 

Yoking up of a morning was not now nearly so 
much trouble, nor was walking to and fro along 
the side of the team nearly so tiresome. The very 
idea itself of being in sight of the end made a 
world of difference. I could throw my black-snake 
whip twice around my head and clip a fly off an ox 
without touching its hide, which was quite an art. 
I could also sing out the word "Omaha" in regular 
western style. We were now making fine head- 
way and could notice the mountains were looming 
up higher every day. Our old friends, the prairie 
dog and the rattle-snake, were just as friendly as 
ever, but the poor Indian had gone where the 
"woodbine twineth," and was conspicuous for his 
absence. The jackrabbit, the coyote, and the ante- 
lope were seen occasionally, but hardly on speak- 
ing terms. 

The wagons we drove were called "prairie schoon- 
ers" or "ships of the desert." They were made 
specially strong for this service, with three inch 
tire and a deep bed. These schooners were loaded 
with a hundred and twenty bushels of shelled corn 
in sacks. We commenced unloading at First View 
leaving sixty bushels at each station. My career 
as driver, most unexpectedly was soon coming 
to a glorious termination. Mr. Carlile had my 
wagon unloaded among the first ones, and to my 
surprise asked me to help him keep tally of the 
weights on the sacks left at the different stations. 
He was also gracious enough to tell me I could 
ride the extra horse that had been kept along with 
the train since its rider had been killed by the 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 29 

Indians. This was a kind of promotion to assis- 
tant boss. 

As the schooners were unloaded they were at- 
tached to others of the same character, and the 
oxen herded and driven that way. The rations 
were very short, due to the thievery of the Indians 
and the extra time we had been delayed. As Mr. 
Carlile had a good horse and fleet of foot, he con- 
cluded to ride on to Denver, and meet us on the 
way with supplies. This arrangement left me in 
charge of the train three days and nights. Once 
more I was having a good time after a fashion. 
What I was doing was more like play than work, 
though there was some responsibility attached. 
Perhaps nothing makes a man appreciate an easy 
job more than going through and getting off a 
hard one. Really I had nothing much to do only 
to ride along leisurely and feast the eye on the 
rolling plains as a picture, and the lofty moun- 
tains as a background. 

When we reached Denver I could see that over 
half of the corn would be left there or sent on to 
other stations further along this same stage line 
extending to various points. Mr. Carlile asked me 
to go with him up to headquarters and make a 
report of the corn I had checked out at the differ- 
ent stations. Fortunately the head man was in his 
office, and as it is rarely the case with men of this 
class, we found him cordial and pleasant in his de- 
portment. After receiving our report and draw- 
ing a check, we told some of the adventures of 
our trip, in which I was permitted to do some of 
the talking. 

Mr. Carlile remarked incidentally that I was on 
my way to Georgetown as a prospector with the 
hope of geting rich quick. He further remarked, 
as a matter of business, that a complimentary 
ticket to that place, no doubt, would be highly 
appreciated. Turning in his easy chair to his desk, 
he wrote a few lines and handed me, with scarcely 
a break in our conversation. Parting with Mr. Car- 



30 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

Hie a few hours later my last request of him was 
to see that no one mistreated my always faithful 
muley oxen. It seems strange to me now that I 
did not keep as trophies of the past, the pistol 
used in fighting the Indians, also the whip used 
in crossing the "Great American Desert." 

Although I was anxious to get up in the moun- 
tains to try my luck, yet I remained at this place 
a week or more. It was considered prudent and 
advisable before going into the mountains to re- 
main near the base or foot hills for a week at least 
in order to give the lungs time to get in line for 
the extra service that would be required of them 
in higher altitudes. Denver was especially adapted 
to this purpose, being about twelve miles from the 
base. It had an elevation itself of 5,000 feet, with 
a rolling declivity to the Missouri River. 

I had worn off many of the "tenderfoot" quali- 
ties by walking across the plains and was prepared 
to tackle nearly anything except a faro bank or 
poker den. Both of these forms of "innocent 
amusement" were in easy touch all the time, where 
a fool and his money would soon part company. 
Denver was then a kind of rendezvous for men 
with a little money, from smaller places, and still 
holds that position up to the present time. It had 
then four or five thousand inhabitants, it now has 
over two hundred thousand and is one of the most 
thrifty as well as most beautiful cities in the world. 
Its early history is quite interesting, and the future 
development of the whole country was contingent 
on its accidental location, which deserves more 
than merely a passing notice. 

From the time gold was first discovered in 
California in 1848 a large number of emigrants 
had made up their outfit at Omaha, and from there 
went through South Pass, a low place in the moun- 
tains, and then on by way of Salt Lake City. It 
occurred to a number of men from the mining sec- 
tion of Georgia that to start from Kansas City 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 31 

and shorten the route. Of course when they 
reached Piatt River where Denver is located they 
were good and tired and ready to rest, at least a 
few days. I am free to accept this as a fact from 
personal experience. 

This party of pioneers was headed by George 
Griffith and Green Russel. The latter being a 
practical miner took his pan down to the creek 
(it was a creek in time of low water but a river 
when the snows in the mountains began to melt 
and scooped up some of the sand. On washing it 
he found a "color" of gold, and this little find 
ended their journey Westward. They divided and 
followed the stream up the several canyons from 
which the stream debouched and one of them found 
the hiding place of the gold near the point where 
Central City is now located. They went to work 
and before cold weather approached took out in 
gold dust and nuggets $32,000.00 as a reuslt of 
their labor. 

Circumstances, — the want of supplies, if nothing 
else, — forced them to return to Georgia. They told 
their friends and others of their wonderful disco- 
very, and they had the evidence of the truth with 
them. As the discovery and its location was a mat- 
ter of national importance the newspapers all over 
the country gave it wide publicity. This vast sec- 
tion at that time was a pathless unexplored region 
known as "Pike's Peak," which had been located 
and marked on the map, though over one hundred 
miles further south. 

There was no use making a long trip overland 
to California when gold could be obtained less than 
half the distance. In the early part of 1859 the 
"gold fever" was at a high pitch. A great many 
under the excitement began to move in that direc- 
tion. It was a common expression in every part of 
the country to hear people say: "On to Pike's 
Peak or bust," even among those who had no in- 
tention of going. It seems strange what a won- 
derful effect the magic word "gold" has on the 



32 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

popular mind. I was told that some people crossed 
the desert plains carrying- their supplies in little 
push carts. 

There was one consolation, however, they were 
not called on to fight the Indians as we did. Our 
train was not only the last one of any kind to 
cross the plains but the only one that had to fight 
its way. I might mention here that we hunted up 
back numbers of the papers and read a description 
of the battle fought by these same Indians that 
attacked us, with Gen. Custer up on Republican 
Fork on July 8th and 9th. He killed about twenty 
or thirty of them, and I presume they had their 
war dance and got in a good humor. 

Not that there is conection or similarity in the 
events, but it brings to my mind that it rained 
forty days during the great flood; I served forty 
days doing hospital work ; and was forty days in 
the army; and now I had been forty days crossing 
the plains. Any one can take his choice if he 
wishes to make a selection. As for myself one is 
about as good as the other. In my future efforts 
I was not hunting a job of either kind. 

After this great excitement of 1859, eight years 
later found me in the wake they left, possibly try- 
ing to trace their footprints. It may be, yes it was, 
with a hopeful heart, yet with many forebodings 
as to profitable results. My purpose now it to tell 
about these uncertainties in the following chap- 
ters. 



CHAPTER II 

ARRIVED IN GEORGETOWN. WENT TO WORK 
NEXT DAY. LEARNING HOW TO MINE. FIRST 
DISCOVERY. BEAUTIFUL MINERAL BUT LOW 
GRADE ORE. WORK ON TERRIBLE MINE. 
NEARLY A MINING ACCIDENT. BOUGHT 
HALF INTEREST IN "KING DAVID" 
MINE. VALUABLE ORE BUT "PE- 
TERED OUT." 

Away up in one of the mountain gorges there 
was a small mining camp named Georgetown, the 
objective point of my journey. In fact any other 
place might have suited me just as well, for hunt- 
ing the hidden deposits of mineral may be com- 
pared to a blind bat trying to catch a mosquito 
on a dark night. One morning at barely good day- 
light the stage was ready for the forty-five mile 
drive, and so. was I, taking my seat with the driver 
as previously arranged. The first fifteen miles was 
smooth and level and it seemed quite like a plea- 
sure trip. Leaving the plains and the foothills 
behind us we entered Clear Creek Canyon and con- 
tinued in this gorge the balance of the trip. 

At many places the high cliffs came so near the 
water that it had been difficult to find a roadway, 
though it was firm and well built even if steep and 
hard to climb. At one place the road had to leave the 
creek a short distance, and we went up a hill about 
half a mile long. The driver asked the passengers 
to please walk up the hill, which we consented to 
do. After going a short distance I found my legs 
got tired quickly as though they might be lazy, 
and my breathing machinery seemed to be on 
extra duty. This was my first experience in the 
effects of higher altitudes. They changed horses 



34 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

twice on the way which enabled us to make good 
time, reaching the end of our journey before night. 
I found a boarding place for a few days only, at 
$10.00 per week. 

As Georgetown is to be my future home and 
habitation for several years, it might be well to 
give some definite idea of its location and sur- 
roundings. One of the peculiar features about these 
canyons is that they widen out from a quarter to 
a half-mile at places, forming beautiful parks from 
one to three miles long. This generally occurs at 
the confluence of two streams. Although up in the 
mountains thirty miles from the foothills, one of 
these level spots or parks was formed by the deft 
hand of nature, and there Georgetown was built. 
Only ten or twelve miles further and we come to 
the Continental Range, beyond which the waters 
flow into the Pacific Ocean. 

At the time of my arival this was a new mining 
camp of little importance. Several years previous 
George Griffith, one of the first pioneers had made 
a few discoveries, and along with others built a 
cabin and named the place Camp George, his given 
name, but later it assumed the name of George- 
town. They soon found by assaying the ore that 
it contained silver but no gold. As soon as this 
fact was ascertained they abandoned their disco- 
veries as worthless, at least for the time. I might 
say in this connection that there is a wide differ- 
ence in the treatment of gold and silver ore, the 
former being always free, while the latter is 
always in combination with one or several of the 
baser minerals, such as zink, antimony, lead, etc. 

The treatment of gold ore taken from the mines 
is very simple, though it may be a little difficult to 
describe without being tedious. I have seen a 
hundred and fifty stamps in operation at one time, 
and heard them too, in fact could not hear anything 
else when a battery of that size is in motion. A 
stamp is a rod of iron four inches in diameter and 
about twelve feet long with an eight inch bulge 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 35 

at one end, and the other end a crook which acts 
as a shoulder, and the line shaft revolving, the 
flange lifts the stamp about two feet and passing 
on turns the stamp loose and it falls on a die firmly 
fixed beneath. 

A recepticle of the proper size and strength for 
the ore is constructed and properly placed, made 
water tight except meshed apertures. A constant 
supply of water is kept running into this long 
trough and the millman soon learns when and 
where to shovel in the ore. As the stamp falls upon 
the ore it is pulverized and in the shape of muddy 
water forced through the meshes. This muddy 
water runs over a slightly inclined sheet of copper, 
to which cleats are fastened about one foot apart, 
and quicksilver pooured along on the upper side of 
the cleats, which at the proper time are removed, 
and the amalgam is caught in a tub conveniently 
arranged so as to catch it. 

In the economy of Nature she has been generous 
in providing that these two metals will adhere to 
nothing else only each other unless released by a 
process of heat, nor will they separate by abrasion. 
All this muddy water is conveyed to a tub by 
gutter, where more quicksilver has been placed. 
The cleats are taken up when thought best and 
everything goes into the tub. Then the water is 
drained off until nothing is left but the amalgam. 
This is put in a retort at a low heat the mercury 
is volatilized and collected in a vessel of water 
ready to use again, and nothing is left but the 
gold dust. 

There is another way of obtaining gold called 
"placer mining" which is quicker and often more 
profitable because less expensive. It seems more 
than probable that at some geological age the ad- 
jacent surroundings where gold is found, were once 
much higher than at present. I have traveled on 
foot over the trend of this mountain range for 
several hundred miles, and visited a number of 
gold mining camps, and my observation led me to 



36 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

the conclusion that gold was found at a lower ele- 
vation than silver. 

It is certainly a plausible theory that the moun- 
tains where gold is found were once much higher, 
and during the glacial period they were torn down 
and ground up by this great moving mass. There 
is too much debris with the gold deposits along 
in the different gulches to have been brought there 
by ordinary abrasion caused by melting snow. 
There is very little doubt, if any, that these deep 
canyons on both sides of the "divide" originated 
in the main, during the glacial period. 

The ordinary miner was not much interested in 
how the gold got there. The main thing with him 
was how to find and get it out. Often he prospects 
along a single gulch for a year or more by digging 
holes in the ground and testing the dirt without 
finding anything of value. If he did succeed in 
finding a rich deposit it was called "luck" and from 
his point of view, labor of itself was of minor im- 
portance. When by "patience and long suffering" 
he made a lucky find, the mining law gave him the 
right to stake off a certain boundary, which, by 
putting it on record, became his property. 

It requires a vivid imagination to draw a pic- 
ture of the glacial epoch and the topographical 
changes made in the earth's surface, but they oc- 
curred, and the deposits of gold they left were 
very treacherous and uncertain. When a discovery 
of the kind referred to was made, the most impor- 
tant matter to consider was how to construct a 
flue, and handle the water in the best way to carry 
through the flue the debris consisting of dirt, sand 
and gravel, also to dispose of the boulders too large 
to enter the flue. But men by experience soon 
learned this to a degree of perfection. 

When the length and width of the flue is decided, 
cleats are tacked on the bottom and quicksilver 
placed above them, also in the big tub at the end 
of the flue. With this all complete the miner is 
ready to commence work. The best and richest 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 37 

part of the claim is often found on the bed-rock, 
or rock in place. Depressions or saucers have been 
formed by abrasion in this solid rock, and a single 
scoop of his shovel may bring to light a pint or 
more of solid gold nuggets of various sizes and 
shapes. 

Many a poor fellow after standing in the cold 
water for days and weeks has entered his dirt- 
floor cabin at night with a tingle of joy in every 
nerve and muscle of his body. His dreams of "get- 
ting rich quick" have been realized, because there 
is more of the same kind of stuff to be captured by 
scraping the bed-rock at other places. His mind 
is not distrubed by thought of 'graft' or cheating 
his fellow man. In turning the wheel of Fortune 
his coffer is filled, but not at the expense of an- 
other who is left in the race to lament his loss. And 
this to an honest man is worth as much as the 
gold itself. 

When Green Russel dipped his pan in the sands 
of Piatt River he made a discovery that opened 
the way for a band of adventurous men to follow 
who were not afraid to take their chance in the 
mountain defiles, several hundred miles beyond the 
borders of civilization. This discovery of his led 
to others still greater in the same line. It opened 
up a wide field for the development of commercial 
and industrial activities too numerous to mention. 
In fact the future building up of this part of West- 
ern country hinged upon this event. 

In an ordinary way it may seem that too much 
space and attention is given to gold, but consider- 
ing its great utility to the human family this would 
be hard to do. It stands today, and perhaps always 
will, as "king" in the metal kingdom, and is the 
unit of value to every other commodity on earth. 
Its supremacy commenced even before Aaron 
made the golden calf and hung it up for the Chil- 
dren of Israel to gaze upon and become healed. A 
bible student once told me the real virtue was in 
their faith, "and not in the "calf." 



38 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

But we need not go back to the ages of antiquity 
to find the highest appreciation for its necessity 
among men. In this modern age of civilization we 
find its power has increased rather than dimi- 
nished. We can see in all the walks of life that it 
is used as a lifting lever to give strength to the 
actions of men and cause them to do noble or 
ignoble deeds. 

As previously mentioned there is a wide differ- 
ence in the treatment of gold and silver ores, the 
latter being much more refractory. The process of 
eliminating it from the baser metals would be 
tedious to describe and might not be interesting 
in the details, therefore will be omitted. The ordi- 
nary miner knew very little and cared less how it 
was done. If we concede that gold is king of 
metals, silver deserves to be crowned "queen," and 
on this basis all other metals are the common 
people. 

I have now written, it is hoped, not at too great 
length, in regard to the two so-called precious 
metals which have for centuries served not only as 
a measure of value in the commercial world, but 
as a basis for our financial system. My next effort 
will be directed to trying to tell a few of the priva- 
tions, adventures and disappointments encountered 
while searching for this alluring and evasive stuff 
that sometimes makes men and women go crazy 
for the want of it. 

The next morning after my arrival I walked 
down town, if thirty or forty rather rudely con- 
structed houses are entitled to the name of town. 
There were already two streets marked off which 
met two others at right angles, and a notice on 
the corner lots that they were for sale. I soon met 
a man who saluted me by the name of "Hello pard," 
and said he wanted to hire two men for a few 
days and perhaps longer. I had learned by this 
time to dress in the garb of a laboring man. One 
of the men that crossed the plains with me 
also went up to Georgetown and was boarding at 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 39 

the same place, so we found him and he was ready 
for work in a few minutes. 

We followed our employer to a point where he 
wished to commence making a trail over a mile in 
a straight line to a discovery he had made or 
bought from some prospector. In order to get the 
proper grade for pack animals it was necessary to 
zig-zag with turns, making the distance about 
three miles. He blazed the way and we followed 
with pick and shovel. It took five days, the balance 
of the week, to reach the objective point. Making 
this trail enabled me to gradually ascend higher 
points and at the same time get pay for it. 

In this connection I might say that though 
Georgetown is 9,000 feet above the sea yet the 
mountains on either side were 3000 to 4000 feet 
higher, in fact as high as the "range" except the 
highest peaks. This was my introduction as a pros- 
pector for prospecting was my intended business. 
When we completed the trail our employer showed 
us his so-called mine. There was no mineral in sight 
nor anything else except rock as far as I could 
see, yet he was confident a g'ood vein of ore was 
down below, no telling how far. It was only a 
short distance to a mine called "Summit", very rich 
in silver though the quantity was too small to be 
profitable to work it. 

Some one had worked a little on the claim and 
sold out to this man, and he told us that pack ani- 
mals would bring up mining tools and supplies, and 
that we might be ready Monday morning to com- 
mence sinking a shaft. We made an honest con- 
fession to him that neither of us knew a thing 
in the world about mining, as for my own part I 
had never seen a drill or a piece of fuse in my life. 
That night he paid us $20.00 each, just half as 
much as received for the whole time crossing the 
plains. 

While walking around Sunday we found a vacant 
cabin with a floor in it which we rented at $5.00 
per month. On Monday we built a bunk and a 



40 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

table, also made numerous purchases necessary for 
light housekeeping, which in the absence of a 
female to give directions, is called 'batching'. The 
tinner made us a sheet-iron stove (for $6.00) that 
one man could easily carry in his hand, but it an- 
swered our purposes all the same. My experience 
in the army and in prison had given me some idea 
of cooking. My partner had also been a soldier, 
though on the opposite side of the "fence," and 
knew more of the culinary arts than I did. We 
"snaked" down off the side of the mountain that 
evening enough dry pine poles to last us three 
months, so we were prepared to live on the cheap- 
est plan possible, which was less than half of what 
we had been paying. 

Self-rising flour cost us $3.00 for a twenty-four 
pound sack (there was no meal for sale) and every- 
thing else in proportion except good steak which 
was only worth twenty cents per pound. Fat cattle 
were driven up from the valley where it cost very 
little to raise them. At that time I did not care 
much about working by the day for wages, as I 
had on hand a little over $600.00 which was $100. 
more than I had when leaving Larkinsville. My 
object in this country was to find or in some way 
own a big gold or silver mine. 

It so happened next morning that we fell in 
company with two miners getting ready to start 
out on the mountains. We explained to them that 
we would like to find out something of the mines 
and mining so they invited us to go with them and 
see for ourselves. Their shaft was only six or eight 
feet deep, and we watched them strike and turn the 
drill until the hole was deep enough to do the work 
they expected it to do. We saw them put in the 
powder and then the fuse. The tamping was care- 
fully done in order to prevent any accident. We 
watched them take out all the loose rock with a 
gad and get ready for the next shot. 

They explained to us the difference between a 
pop, foot, lifting and leading shot, and the neces- 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 41 

sity of understanding the nature of the rock, be- 
cause if the powder was given too much to do it 
would do nothing. They showed us where to locate 
the next shot, and how to use the starter and the 
spoon, also in regard to turning the drill just so 
far, and then they sat around until we drilled the 
hole, loaded it with powder and made the explo- 
sion. We took dinner with them, and went back 
to work like regular miners. I noticed one thing, 
that they did not have any mineral in sight nor 
mucti prospect of any. 

This was called "developing" the property. The 
mining law required some kind of a hole down ten 
feet from the surface, showing a mineral bearing 
vein, before a legal record could be made. It fur- 
ther required $100.00 in work on the claim each 
year or it was subject to relocation by some other 
party. When $500.00 in work had been made and 
proved by witness, the owner could obtain a patent 
from the government to a strip of land 3,000 feet 
long and 150 feet wide, which was taxable like 
any other property. The wisdom and justice of the 
law will be seen in the fact that it prevented old 
abandoned claims from continuing- in force, also 
prevented what was called "wildcat" claims, which 
meant a record without a genuine discovery. 

These mining laws are mentioned here because 
it is important for a prospector to understand 
them, and I was preparing myself for that occupa- 
tion. It seems Destiny or some other power behind 
the throne had already, without my knowledge or 
consent, rendered a decree to that effect. In my 
new field of labor all my former attainments in a 
literary way were to be set aside as useless, or at 
least worth very little. I must now learn to be a 
miner if I expected to follow the business. This 
explains the object of our errand with the two 
miners up on the mountain, and it was time well 
spent. 

After learning so much in one day, next morning 
each one purchased a new pick and shovel, usually 



42 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

emblems of industry, for which we paid $16.00 and 
at once struck out to roam over the mountains, 
taking them by rotation. It was my private opinion 
that we could discover a mine of some kind good, 
bad, or between the two extremes. We even went 
out above timber line ten or twelve thousand feet 
in altitude. From these high elevations we could 
see the wide-spreading plains, and thought we 
could see the place where we fought Indians. 

We spent four days in walking and looking 
without wearing much of the "new" off our picks 
and shovels. We now agreed to go alone, each 
one to work for himself and to do as he pleased. 
My idea was to move along slowly and be careful, 
as it is a matter of digging more than simply 
looking. Incidentally I met a man of more mature 
years than myself who had been here some time 
and had also been in other mining sections. He 
knew a great deal by experience about prospect- 
ing, and as a rarity knew how to tell it. A great 
many people know many things, and yet have no 
faculty of telling it so as to impart information. 

He first told me about "float-stuff," which may 
be nothing more than a mineral-bearing rock, but 
all the same it broke loose from somewhere above 
and might prove to be part of a good mine. He had 
several specimens in his pocket each one different 
from the other. One in particular that had specks 
and streaks of mineral through it, he had spent 
weeks digging and was still trying to find where 
it came from, perhaps never did find the place. He 
said such a thing as accidentally finding a mine 
was a very poor dependance. 

One little piece of advice he ventured to give me 
was: "If you are ever lucky enough to find a mine 
and some one offers you above $1,000 for it, be 
sure to sell." It was the nature of nearly all mines 
to have "pockets", liable to pinch or play out. In 
his opinion not more than one in a hundred would 
pay to work, and pay a dividend too. As I was a 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 43 

new beginner this was all valuable information, es- 
pecially in regard to prospecting. 

The next week was spent with a more definite 
idea of what I was doing and how to do it. I now 
had more use for my pick and shovel than for- 
merly. This float-stuff, the miners guide, was 
easily found, and I spent two days digging and 
tracing up a piece of float, and then some one had 
already made a discovery by tracing up the piece 
of float, and had sunk a shaft twenty feet deep, 
and then gave it up. This saved me a lot of work 
for I might have done the same. I continued to dig 
a number of holes at other places, which like Lot's 
wife that turned to a pillar of salt, are there to 
this day, also many others of a similar kind scat- 
tered far and wide. 

In my rambling around I found a dug out place 
two or three feet deep and from appearance it 
looked like a favorable prospect. It was the usual 
custom of the prospector, if he thought anything 
of his discovery, to whittle a smooth place on a 
stick, write his name and the date and leave it 
there, as the law allowed him thirty days for 
further improvement. The name on the stick was 
the same one that had been giving me advice and 
information. I told him about finding one of his 
discoveries. He said: "Yes, I remember that, but 
it is kind of a rough place and I have something 
now more important, so I will make you a present 
of it, and there may be a good body of mineral 
down below, not a great way." 

I told my batching partner about it and agreed 
to give him a half interest if he would join with 
me in buying powder, fuse and other mining tools, 
as it would require shooting our way right from 
the beginning, a proposition he gladly accepted. 
The previous knowledge we had obtained from the 
two miners enabled us to go right along with the 
work, though not as fast as men of experience in 
that line. As progress was made in the develop- 



44 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

merit we were encouraged greatly by occasional 
specks of bright mineral in the vein material. 

A new stamp mill was building up slowly for 
the reduction of silver ore, and I had some fear 
they would not get it ready in time for my patron- 
age. It was hard for us to average more than half 
a foot per day, yet that was going some. When we 
were down some eight or nine feet we put in a 
leading shot one evening which brought to light 
bright shining mineral in pieces half as large as 
my head. I might have been excited while fighting 
the Indians, but this was a different kind. We 
carefully stacked up our mineral like a banker does 
his silver dollars, taking with us some of our nicest 
pieces to show to our friends. Some "smart Alec" 
suggested that we ought to have an assay made 
before climbing up too high, on a hope that might 
be a failure, which of course was the proper thing 
to do. 

I might have slept some that night, but if so I 
had no recollection of it next morning. Such a 
thing as sleep was very slightly on the program. 
A small piece of ore had been left with the assayist, 
though of course it was rich in our estimation, be- 
cause bright and beautiful to look at. Things of 
that kind, like many others, depend upon the eyes 
with which one sees. He promised that evening to 
give us a written report next morning showing its 
real value, at a moderate price of $4.00, worth not 
more than $1.00, but I paid it. 

When we read the certificate of $14.00 per ton 
our peacock feathers wilted down all of a sudden. 
At first we tried to "make-believe" there was some 
mistake, but he offered to put up a forfeit of $100 
and stand by the results, if we wished to get some 
other responsible assayer to make a test. It was 
folly on our part to doubt his correctness, for his 
reputation was at stake on every test he made. It 
was like a man trying to find an easy way to get 
down from some high pinnacle. We had been 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 45 

riding a "high-horse" and it was now our time to 
get down and walk, simply had it to do. 

There was a smelter here at this time for treat- 
ing ore of this character, but they charged $25.00 
per ton for treatment, by merely melting the ore, 
then eliminating the lead by de-oxidation. The 
new mill men told me they would not treat this 
character of ore, as it was too low grade, and 
that their price would be not less than $50.00 per 
ton. All this information was very essential to a 
person engaged in mining. This little venture in 
the mining industries of the country had the good 
effect of wearing off the "wire-edge" from our 
"tenderfoot" qualities and put us in line with other 
miners. 

As a matter of course, on my own part, I was 
discouraged and even disappointed, but my feelings 
were not of that gloomy character that sinks the 
heart of man. Hope might be a little lame in one 
wing, but still able to hold its royal commission. 
There were a few rich mines in the country, and I 
was still able to "pick my flint" again, and next 
time maybe I would be in better luck. When I said 
to my partner that we had better put on record our 
claim he said : "I would not give my part of the 
$4.00 recording fee, for the whole thing, so you may 
have it"; and besides that, he said: "I am out of 
money, haven't a dollar on earth, and must find 
some one that has, and will give me work to do." 

During the month of October in Colorado there 
are a few weeks of the finest weather in the world. 
The first snow fails to attract much attention as 
it remains only a short time on the ground. With 
the blue sky above us indicating no near approach 
of winter we were walking down the street when 
we met a man who proposed to give us a contract 
of $200.00 to sink a shaft twenty feet deeper on 
his mine, that was already ten feet deep. We 
started at once with him to see his property. We 
went with him up the main branch of the creek 
seven or eight miles to a saw mill near the foot 



46 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

of the range. Turning to the left we followed him 
up the mountain fully a mile to a point above tim- 
ber line. It was not hard rock like we were used 
to working for the last month, and in our opinion 
we could finish the work inside of four weeks. 

He was to bear all expenses of every character, 
and take it out of the amount he was to pay when 
the work was completed. Next day he went with 
us in order to drive back the pack animals that 
carried the supplies, rope and bucket, also other 
things necessary to finish the work. We were 
then at least 12,000 feet in altitude, and in fair 
view of Erwin's peak some two or three miles 
distant. The peak ought to have been called by 
that name down to the present, as he was the first 
one on its top, made a measurement of its height 
and gave a written account of the fact. This en- 
titled him to the name. 

Later, however, a touring party visited the peak, 
and a professor, from some Eastern college, named 
Gray made a barometic measure of its altitude, 
also by noting the difference in temperature of 
boiling water, which is conceded to be even more 
accurate. In giving an account of his trip and 
measurement it showed the peak to be fifty feet 
higher than Pike's Peak. His article was published 
in the Eastern and Colorado papers, and in this 
way the name was changed. I happened to see 
the members of the touring party at the time. 

But I will "switch" back onto our contract as a 
matter of far more importance. Some snow was 
falling but the wind blew it into lower places. We 
had built a neat strong "bough-house" in a tongue 
of timber that extended a little higher up the moun- 
tain than timber line generally. After nearly two 
weeks our "grub" was getting low and we con- 
cluded to measure up our work and go down for 
further supplies next day. We only lacked nine 
feet of finishing our contract. Early that night it 
commenced snowing: sure enoug'h in a regular 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 47 

storming fashion, and by daylight next day it was 
three or four feet deep and still coming. 

Our little "den" was comfortable enough as it 
was covered with three or four feet of snow, but 
we were out of provisions, besides that there was 
no abatement in the storm, nor liable to be in the 
next three or four days, and the snow getting 
deeper all the time. We rolled up our blankets 
and tied them around us in regular soldier style. 
Realizing the danger of becoming snow bound, 
each one with a pole eight or ten feet long to be 
used in feeling our way, we began the descent to 
a lower level. At first we could scarcely see ten 
feet ahead of us, but knew by going down we 
could reach the creek below. 

Neither of us had ever been in a mountain 
storm before, though we had heard something of its 
terror. The snow in the canyon below was fully 
four feet deep and still accumulating. We con- 
tinued to take it "time about" in the front. It was 
nearly night when we reached our cabin, and both 
of us were just about played out, and as we had 
nothing to eat that day we were hungry as well 
as tired. In a few days we saw our employer, 
thinking he would pay us part as the work was 
over half completed, but he held close to the con- 
tract that payment was to be made when the work 
was finished. He suggested we might take our 
time and finish next summer. It was usual to pay 
a third when half the work was completed. 

My partner, for reasons already assigned, was 
anxious to obtain work, and he went to see two 
men, one named Crow and the other Clark, who 
jointly owned the "Terrible" mine, one of the best 
that had been discovered in the whole country up 
to that time. I was anxious to see and work on a 
rich paying mine, so with a view of learning some- 
thing, when he returned and said they would give 
us $3.00 per day and board I concluded to try it 
awhile. There were only two men working on the 
day shift, and they wanted us to work during the 



48 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

night. Under the ground and be)^ond daylight it 
makes little difference, when one gets used to 
sleeping in the day time. 

Neither of us were first class miners, not even 
second class, and it was a dangerous piece of busi- 
ness in a mine of this character. The shaft was 
down seventy-five feet and from the bottom of 
this shaft they had drifted on the vein thirty feet 
or more. There was a ladder down one end of the 
shaft. In putting off a shot the end of the fuse is 
bent over, and near the end a small piece of burn- 
ing candle is placed, and the shot will explode in 
about one and a half minutes ; this gives a man 
time to ascend the ladder far enough to be out of 
the way. 

The ore vein was twelve inches thick and the mill 
run averaged $700.00 per ton, giving it the reputa- 
tion of a first-class mine. The rock between the 
vein and foot wall is called the matrix of the mine, 
and in this instance was about five feet wide, and 
is. generally easier to drill than the adjacent gran- 
ite. In this mine, however, it was both hard to 
drill and refractory in its nature. 

We were at the place ready for work, before time 
for the day shift to quit. Our object was to 
learn from them how they managed. We worked 
hard, made a good showing and our employers 
were well pleased. The plan adopted was to 
excavate along the side of the vein four or five 
feet and then put in a few pop shots behind the 
ore, first spreading a heavy cloth on the bot- 
tom of the drift. Crow and Clark wanted to be 
present when this was done. Of course this took 
place in our absence, and ruled me out of the ore 
handling business. 

On the fourth night an incident took place that 
makes me almost shudder to think about, though 
we failed to see the danger at the time. There 
was a kind of a bench, right in the head of the 
drift, and an extra nice place to locate a good 
two foot shot. We drilled the hole, loaded and 
made our escape in the usual way all right, but 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 49 

no explosion. Of course there was something 
wrong, either a defective fuse, or we had cut it 
with the tamping rod. One end of the spoon was 
sharp on purpose for picking out a missfire, but 
we had tamped the hole so hard that the pick was 
of no service, so we had to drill that one over or 
drill another, and we decided the latter less dan- 
gerous and drilled another, one inch from the one 
that failed. 

When the last shot was exploded a print of two 
holes was left lacking about half an inch of being 
parallel with each other. The Indian lacked two 
inches of hitting my head, but this was only half an 
inch. If the point of the drill had struck the powder 
no doubt our mining career would have been termi- 
nated very quickly. The rock was so hard that the 
one holding the starter had to bat his eyes when 
it was struck in order to keep the sparks out. I 
mention this fact to show the danger of drilling 
the second hole. 

We next put in a good long roof shot which did 
lots of work and made a big pile of rock for one 
shift. A shot of this character has to point upward 
just a little in order to keep the roof in good shape. 
Of all the work in the world that has ever fallen 
to my lot, this is just about the most tiresome. 
Holding one's arms over the head and turning a drill 
smooth and regular so as to keep the hole true is 
no easy job, nor is striking the drill any less like 
work. To load a shot of this kind it is necessary to 
fold a piece of heavy paper on a stick the right size, 
and then paste the folded places with a certain kind 
of soap. By slipping this off the stick and filling it 
with powder, the fuse being inserted, the cartridge, 
by folding the top, is ready for use. 

The last night of the six I worked there, we had 
instructions to commence a back-stope, which 
means to take out all the rock for six or eight 
feet above the drift. We knew absolutely noth- 
ing about that kind of work, but neither of us 
would admit our ignorance. The stull timber of the 
right length and size was in the bottom of the 



50 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

shaft, ready to be used in making' a platform to 
stand on while putting- in the shot. It was neces- 
sary to cut hitches three inches deep in both the 
foot and hanging wall, and each one used a small 
hammer and moil for that purpose. We cut the 
hitches deeper than necessary and it was 2 o'clock 
before getting ready to put in the first shot. Expert 
miners would perhaps have been ready in less than 
two hours. It took us the balance of the shift to 
put in one shot, but it did more work than two days 
in the drift. 

Mr. Clark was more agreeable to talk with than 
his partner. I explained to him that it might be to 
his interest to employ a more skillful miner to take 
my place, but still retain my partner. This arrange- 
ment was satisfactory, and I was glad enough to 
find myself safely back in the cabin. The truth of 
the matter was I still had over $500.00 in money 
and did not care to jeopardize my life for a few 
dollars. I had let a banker have all my gold at 
a premium of 15 per cent which was added to my 
bank account, so I felt safe in that respect. 

As the "Terrible" was the best mine in all the 
country at that time I was anxious to learn some- 
thing of its history. In talking with Mr. Clark he 
said they had paid $4,000.00 to four prospectors 
when it was twenty-five feet deep, and that the mi- 
neral vein was about one inch thick at the time ; 
that the prospectors, had not tried to save any 
of the mineral, in fact it was twenty feet deep 
before they found any. Clark and Crow let a con- 
tract of fifty feet to Cornish miners at $20.00 per 
foot, binding them to save the mineral, which was 
an easy thing to do when men knew how. 

At the depth of fifty feet the vein was six inches 
thick and at seventy-five feet, twelve inches thick. 
The products of the ore paid for the work, and 
besides paid back nearly all the purchase money. 
And further, he said that he and his partner had 
been teamsters from Georgetown and Central City 
to Denver for several years, making about $6.00 
each per day above expenses. They always went 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 51 

together for mutual protection and assistance. This 
mining venture of theirs shows what the crazy- 
thing called "luck" will do for some, while it ig- 
nores the efforts of others, yet it was an inspiration 
to continue and perhaps some day I might own a 
mine like this, though I would prefer the rock a 
little softer. 

In this talk with Mr. Clark he told me they were 
now selecting ten tons of mineral to be shipped 
across the ocean to Sawana, England, to be treated 
there, and a good sale of the east end of the mine 
was contingent upon the "mill run" yielding $700.00 
per ton. He did not mention the price to be paid, 
but I learned later that they received from a Brit- 
ish syndicate $500,000.00 in gold. It required a 
$3,000.00 revenue stamp placed on the deed. This 
syndicate put in an aerial tramway up to the mine 
with crane-like buckets bringing the ore down to 
their mill on a wire rope. Whether it was a pay- 
ing investment or not, no one ever knew. It was 
always a strange thing to me that no one ever 
worked the west end of the mine. Of course there 
was some good reason for this. 

Some one in writing a book, put it down that 
an idle mind was the devil's work shop, and there 
is more truth than poetry in the proposition. As 
the hands obey the dictates of the mind they are 
liable to find mischief and then comes trouble. I 
never was able to sit around and do nothing, unless 
reading a book may be rated under that head. I 
found a cabin that suited me much better than the 
one I was occupying, and finding the owner I pro- 
posed renting. He said, "Let me sell it to you." 
As I no longer had any particular use for my gold 
watch I made him an offer to swap even. After 
looking at it a few minutes he remarked: "Young 
man, I guess you have bought a cabin." 

It was located on the hillside between two large 
jutting rocks, a rather ideal place for a man to be 
alone in the big wide world. It had two glass win- 
dows and a little porch in front facing the city 



52 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

below. There was a nice table and two bunks made 
of dressed lumber. I bought a bale of hay, made a 
mattress and was prepared to board at home. I put 
a good lot of stove wood in one corner of the 
cabin, and soon had everything to the "queen's 
taste" or rather to the king's taste, for I was 
monarch of all I surveyed when the door was 
closed. This deal stopped paying rent, and in every 
way suited my purpose. 

I was now prepared to take the world easy, but 
the very thought of tramping my way through 
the world as a pauper or nearly so, disturbed my 
peace of mind. I had, in a manner lost my former 
aspirations for a higher education, and the one 
absorbing thought was how to own a good pay- 
ing mine. No lingering doubt in my mind that such 
a thing was here in the country for me, if I only 
knew how to find or get hold of it. 

Several important discoveries had been made 
since I reached Georgetown that were yielding 
valuable ore, enough to keep the new stamp mill 
in operation day and night. Among these mines 
was one called "Equator" both rich and prolific in 
mineral. This mine was really discovered by an 
old negro named Bowman, sent out by lead miners 
from Missouri. He had made several excavations 
in a kind of soil that looked like an old ash bank, 
but had not found the vein. 

An old prospector passing along asked him what 
he was doing; "Well, boss, there is a big mine 
here and I's trying to find where he goes down in 
the ground but it is hard to do. May be some of 
3 r ou white men could find it." The white man went 
forty or fifty yards further along where the ground 
was a little higher and after digging a few minutes 
found a piece of ore, continuing to dig found more, 
in fact was on the vein. By law he had a priority 
right, but according to a strict justice the old negro 
was entitled to part of it. 

This old prospector named McFarland was the 
same man who had given me so many mining dots 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 53 

formerly mentioned, also gave me one of his dis- 
coveries that proved to have low grade mineral. 
He had a good vein of mineral when down ten feet, 
but he was afraid to risk its holding out. Two capi- 
talists happened to hear of the mine and offered 
him $5,000.00, and the mistake of his life was in 
accepting the offer. He started back to the States 
and got as far as Denver where he entered a gam- 
bling den and lost all his money except $100.00. 
In two weeks' time he was back in Georgetown. 
After a short time I lost sight of him and never 
learned where he went. 

Returning to my cabin home, to take up the 
thread of my narrative, I will mention that it was 
now the middle part of the winter. It generally 
stormed one or two days and then high winds 
drifted the snow and packed it into low places. 
While the temperature was often only a few 
degrees above zero, yet it was not the same kind 
of cold as back in the States. The air seemed to 
be dry as well as pure, and in the absence of mois- 
ture it lacked that penetrating quality I had been 
used to in a southern climate. 

Incidentally I met an old time prospector, a re- 
gular 59er, by the name of David Hirsha. At first 
he engaged in gulch mining and made some money 
but had about run through with it. He had made 
several discoveries but none of them were deve- 
loped ; of course their value was uncertain. Like 
nearly all prospectors, he was very hopeful of 
their final outcome. As one of them was only a 
little over a mile distant, and about two hundred 
yards off the road leading to the Terrible mine, 
I concluded to go with him and look at it. 

To my surprise there was a well defined vein 
though no mineral, yet I thought favorably of its 
appearance. His proposition was to sell for $500.00, 
but I soon convinced him that he had nothing to 
sell in the first place, and besides that I was a 
prospector myself and not a capitalist. If you 
think this hole in the ground is a good mine I will 



54 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

make you a proposition that will test your faith. 
I am willing to risk my labor if you are yours. If 
it proves worthless, in my estimation, I will quit 
any time and lose my labor, and you will know a 
little more about the value of your claim. If the 
mine improves to my satisfaction I am to have the 
privilege of paying you $100.00 and we will be 
joint owners. 

He accepted my proposition and went to work at 
once. As we were near the surface, we could work 
only as the weather would permit. In about three 
weeks we were down ten or eleven feet and the 
vein had widened out to four or five inches with 
some mineral in it at places. I paid him the $100.00 
and placed it on record under the name of "King 
David." One month later we were down twenty 
feet with a decided improvement in the ore vein, 
and that was the main thing. It was something like 
a quarter mineral and the balance rock. On going 
deeper we were hoping and expecting the vein 
would be thicker and solid ore. The mineral as- 
sayed $485.00 per ton, which would be good enough 
if solid. 

We had improvised a way of getting out of the 
shaft by driving small pieces of timber from one 
side of the shaft to the other at one end. As I held 
the drill it was my busines to locate, load and ex- 
plode the shots. The device for escaping from the 
shaft seemed to be safe enough. Putting the pieces 
of candle under the fuse I caught hold, as usual, 
of the first piece of timber, expecting to reach the 
next one, but it gave way and I fell back in the 
shaft. Somewhat stunned, I seized hold of the 
burning fuse, and with great effort twisted it off, 
though my hand was burned in doing so. 

In five or ten seconds more the fine powder in- 
side the fuse would have caught and then my 
mining career would have been over, or at least 
a thousand chances to one against me. My leg 
and face was considerably bruised and we had to 
stop work for a week to give my hand time to get 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 55 

well. It was not a matter of ignorance but one of 
pure neglect, for I knew very well how to construct 
a ladder down a rock shaft, as I had carefully no- 
ticed the one in the Terrible mine made by cutting 
hitches on each side at the end of the shaft and 
putting in 6x4 stull timber, and fastening to them 
2x4 scantling, with iron rungs. 

It required two or three days to put in a sub- 
stantial ladder way, and I felt safe in getting out 
of the way of danger. When we reached the depth 
of twenty-five feet the ore vein was still improv- 
ing and we were saving every pound. Some pieces 
would weigh twenty or thirty pounds, but it seems 
something was bound to happen. The old man (he 
was past fifty years of age) was welting the drill 
with a hefty lick when the hammer struck the drill 
head a glancing lick and hit my hand. It felt like 
every bone was crushed, and my hand was bleeding 
at several places. The doctor dressed the wound, 
said none of the bones were broken, but I had to 
put my hand in a sling. It seemed to hurt the old 
man nearly as bad as it did me. 

Spring of the year had arrived which brought 
much nicer weather. For obvious reasons I was 
not doing my own cooking, but taking my meals 
at a restaurant. This forced leisure gave me time 
from my own little affairs, to pay more attention 
to passing events. One thing that impressed me 
was the increased number of people on the streets 
especially after night. Some eight or ten new busi- 
ness houses had been put up and occupied since 
my arrival, less than a year previous, and perhaps 
thirty dwelling houses of a much better type were 
built and occupied, nor was this all. 

A newspaper was published, called the George- 
town Miner, a Methodist church was going up, 
two new hotels were doing business, a large bil- 
liard hall was in operation and liberally patronized, 
also six or eight saloons were not neglected. Gam- 
bling dens could be found by parties looking for 
them. The town was yet in its infancy and very little 



56 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

regard paid to law and order. Shooting and killing 
scrapes were quite common and it was a usual ex- 
pression, "another man for breakfast this morn- 
ing." 

Something like five miles below Georgetown 
and one mile up from where the creek forks, there 
had been a thriving village of three or four thou- 
sand inhabitants engaged in placer mining. The 
houses there were pulled down and brought by 
wagons to help build up Georgetown, in fact my 
own cabin was one of these houses. I met a man 
named Martin who told me all about Empire City 
as it was called. He was there during its flush 
times. 

Four of them, he said, took out $200,000 in six 
months, but it came easy and went easy, all they 
cared for was to have a good time. There were 
theatres, dance-houses and all kind of dissipation 
and depravity by both men and women. This was 
in 1862-3, during the war. As their claims played 
out they left the city like rats deserting a sinking 
ship. Part of this element was now infesting 
Georgetown. But the better class were in the ma- 
jority and decided to protect their lives and pro- 
perty. They organized a vigilance committee and 
at least one man was hung for highway robbery. 
A mayor of the city and a police force brought con- 
ditions in line with civilization. 

It occurred to me that I might do something 
while waiting for my hand to get well, and no- 
ticing a number of children on the streets occa- 
sionally, I went to see their parents in regard to 
opening a school, and found may of them very 
much in favor of it. A merchant, in building his 
store, had prepared the upper story as a hall for 
public meetings, which was used at night for occa- 
sions of that kind. I rented the hall at $10.00 per 
month, put an advertisement in the paper, giving 
the time of opening and price per month. 

The school was much better patronized than I 
anticipated. Being the first school taught in the 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 57 

city it naturally had a good moral effect upon so- 
ciety and gave the people assurance they were 
living in a part of God's country. In speaking of 
the States they were frequently referred to as 
"back in God's country." I cleared above expense 
about $60.00 per month. I took my meals at one 
of the hotels that was patronizing the school to 
the amount of my bill. In leisure time, of an eve- 
ning and on Saturday, I got acquainted with the 
best class of people, which of itself is worth a 
great deal. 

I formed the acquaintance of two gentlemen 
willing to make a small investment in undeveloped 
property if the -location and outlook for mineral 
resources met their judgment. It is easy enough 
for a prospector to boast about his mining pro- 
perty; in his estimation he has the world and the 
"fullness thereof" but it requires a "show down" 
to convince the other fellow. In due time we 
reached the place and they were pleased with 
the location. The stacked-up ore did not look as 
nice as when it was fresh, but I broke some of the 
largest pieces in order to make the best impression 
possible. 

We went down in the shaft and found the drill 
in the hole where it had been left. They took some 
of the mineral from the vein and then we went 
back to town. The next day they asked me to 
make them a reasonable price that I was willing 
to take and make them a deed. I told them only 
half belonged to me, and for them to make their 
best offer and I would submit it to my partner. 
After considerable talk they agreed to pay us 
$10,000. in cash for the mine just as it was and 
take the chances. 

The next move now belonged to me. I studied the 
matter over carefully and deliberately. I knew 
how McFarland had in a foolish way disposed of 
the Equator easily worth a million dollars, and 
how the four prospectors had let the Terrible slip 
from them, still I was impressed with the uncer- 



58 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

tainty of mining ventures. I could now reach Lar- 
kinsville with nearly $5,000 more than when T left 
there one and a half years before, and have some- 
thing to talk and think about all the balance of 
my life, so I decided to make the deal if my part- 
ner was willing. That night I tried my best to 
dream about it. 

I knew Hersha was riding a mighty high horse 
in his estimation of the mine, and it would require 
caution not to get him excited. I commenced by 
saying a few thousand dollars would enable him 
to develop his other discoveries, but he was in- 
different and had very little to say. When I men- 
tioned to him that we could get $5,000. each in cash 
for the "King David" he spoke out with emphasis 
and said: "No sir, I would not take a cent less 
than $50,000 for my half interest. The mine is 
worth in my opinion more than that, but I could 
make out with this much right well the balance of 
my life. I have been here now nine years wearing 
my life away, and this is the first and best chance." 

There was no use in arguing the question with 
the old man for he was "sot" in his notions, and 
besides he might be right. It was simply a matter 
of whether the vein would increase and become 
solid mineral, or diminish and finally peter out. No 
one could tell what might be the results. I told the 
parties the decision of my partner, and we let the 
matter drop. 

In two months time my hand was well enough 
to resume work. It seems strange I did not hire a 
man to take my place, for teaching school was cer- 
tainly much easier than mining, and I was making 
nearly enough to pay a good miner ; instead of 
that I quit the school, donned my overalls and went 
back in the mine. My partner had been working 
at another place, but was anxious to get back and 
come in possession of his own, just a little further 
down. He was a stalwart brawny man, as tough as 
a pine knot and as strong as an ox. He struck the 
drill all the time, and used the windlass in pulling 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 59 

all the rock out of the shaft, but he never com- 
plained of doing- more than his part. 

The first three or four feet, the mineral in the 
vein increased and in places was nearly a foot wide. 
I began to think the old man was right in his de- 
cision. It is said that Hope springs eternal in the 
human breast, but I always found it more lively 
with a little encouragement. It began to look like 
fortune was staring us in the face and daring us 
to take hold, but the elusive phantom evaded our 
touch and slipped away. 

When we reached the depth of thirty-five feet 
the mineral had played out and the vein had 
pinched down to three or four inches. Our $5,000. 
each, had "vamoosed the ranch" as the Mexican 
greaser says when anything disappears. But Hersha 
had the true "grit" of a prospector. He was cast 
down and disappointed, but still buoyant with 
hope. He contended it was the nature of all mines 
to have lean places. Because the rock was getting 
harder it was evidence to him that it had to be that 
way in order to hold solid mineral. Ten feet further 
our mine would be in again and bigger than ever. 

As the finances of Hersha were running a little 
low, and my own bank account in a dwindling 
shape, he suggested that we go over our pile of 
mineral and chip out as much rock as possible and 
carry the best ore to the mill for treatment. We 
borrowed forty ore sacks which were filled and car- 
ried down to the road on our shoulders and we 
paid a passing teamster a dollar to deliver them at 
the mill. There were just two tons, which netted 
us $105.00 each after paying all expense. This was 
adding, by the way, that much to the wealth of the 
country. 

The ringing sound of the hammer might be heard 
day after day without the loss of time. As the 
weather was fine we put in ten hours work like 
working for wages. Things were a great deal 
cheaper, both living and mining supplies, than 
they were a year previous. Perhaps this was due 



60 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

to the completion of the Union Pacific railroad 
across the "Great American Desert." Still mining 
was expensive, and when seven weeks put us down 
fifty feet my partner was willing to quit as he was 
again out of means. In fact he was discouraged, 
as well as I had been for some time past, though 
J wanted him to say "enough." 

We had not been able to find any mineral for the 
last fifteen feet, but it is a well-known fact that all 
mines have lean places. In one notable instance the 
Bob Tail near Central City, after yielding nearly a 
million dollars pinched out and the owners ceased to 
do any further work. One of the men, an Irishman 
by the name of Pat Casey, who had been working 
on the mine for wages, still had confidence and 
took a lease on it for six months. In less than two 
weeks he struck into mineral bigger than ever. 

Pat in his new found wealth, as the tale goes, 
quit work himself, and his butter-fly friends began 
to tell him how to spend his money. They induced 
him to buy a fine carriage and four horses. With 
a lackey perched on a high seat in front he drove 
his friends to the different saloons and had re- 
freshments brought out to them on a tray. With 
a high-top hat, a diamond pin and other fine "tog- 
gery" he had a "swell" time. It might be too 
tedious to mention his various escapades with his 
pseudo friends. 



CHAPTER III 

COULD HAVE OWNED A THIRD INTEREST IN 
DIVES MINE. FORMED PARTNERSHIP, PREFER- 
ABLE. FOUND AN ICEBERG A MILLION YEARS 
OLD. ORIGIN OF "BOOM DITCH" IDEA. MOUN- 
TAIN LION, BEAR AND BLACK SQUIRREL IN 
CHAPARRAL DISTRICT. BROKE ANOTHER 
ONE OF MY SEVEN "DONT'S" FOR A 
SHORT TIME. SPENT THE WINTER 
MONTHS MERCHANDISING. 

Men never receive any material benefit for their 
effort unless crowned with success. There was 
nothing for me to gain by sitting down and cry- 
ing, or even whining-, nor was there any use in 
laying the whole blame of failure on an imaginary 
something called "bad luck." Even with the proper 
industry there is always an element of uncertainty 
in every kind of business. The farmer depends 
upon the season, the merchant waits for a cus- 
tomer, the doctor waits for some one to get sick, 
and so on with other avocations. The only thing in 
sight for me was to keep on trying. 

My partner in the King David said he had an- 
other discovery that might turn out better, though 
a man named Burr owned a half interest with him. 
They both agreed that if I would bear the "grub" 
and other expense we three would work together 
and sink it ten feet deeper, and they would make 
a deed, so as to make me an equal owner. I went 
with them, examined the mine and found some 
mineral in the bottom, at one end of the shaft, then 
ten feet deep, and recorded under the name of 
"Dives." I took a small piece of the mineral and 
paid $4.00 to find out that it assayed nearly $500.00 
per ton, 



62 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

Possibly it might be only a pocket and peter out 
like the King David did. I made a calculation and 
the expense would be about $100.00. Approaching 
winter, which comes early in that section, warned 
me to be careful of my bank account. I was none 
too good to work by the day, but that was not 
my purpose in the country. I was to tell Hersha 
and Burr in a few days what I decided on doing. 
It so happened that I met John Burkholder, the 
teamster that hauled our ore to the mill for us, 
during the time I was deciding. I told him about 
our mine playing out, and that I was now going 
to try my "luck" in finding a beter one. And hereon 
hangs a tale that I will unfold. 

The smallest kind of an event, the shifting of a 
straw to show which way the wind blows, some- 
times changes the whole tenor of a man's life. In 
talking with Burkholder he proposed to pay me 
half wages ($2.00) for a half interest in any dis- 
covery I might make. He knew as. well as I did 
the uncertainty in prospecting, yet was willing to 
lun the risk. He was clearing between $5.00 and 
$6.00 per day above expense and could afford to 
make this investment. As he was a nice, quiet, 
well behaved man and not addicted to the drink 
habit, I accepted his proposition. In fact it suited 
my purposes exactly. 

Finding the owners of the Dives I declined their 
proposition, which beyond any doubt was the 
greatest mistake of all my life. I will have more to 
say about the Dives in the regular sequence of 
events. The mistake I made however was not in 
the selection of a new partner for he was always 
prompt in payment and liberal in his dealings. He 
was a Canadian by birth, and always accepted dis- 
appointment without complaining. 

This might have been a proper time to complete 
the contract of the past winter which we failed to 
finish on account of deep snow, but I had a little 
unpleasantness with my partner in this contract, 
and we were not now on speaking terms. In his 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 63 

movements as a soldier in the Northern army he 
was in Jackson County, my old home, and knew 
by name a number of people I had once known. 
He spoke of those he met, as "poor white trash," 
very little if any better than the negro. Yes that 
may be so, I said, for no decent, respectable white 
people down South would associate with a yankee 
soldier, and as it was congenial for him to meet 
this "white trash," perhaps he sprung from that 
class in his own country. I told him it was best 
for us not to talk of things pertaining to the war. 

Once more, with pick and shovel, I took the 
"blind trail" in search of "float" rock or any kind 
of "croppings" that appeared above the debris. 
The greatest trouble in prospecting was this "de- 
bris" which was sometimes twenty feet deep, and 
underneath this mass of stuff there might be the 
hiding place of a good mine. Due to this fact it 
may be a thousand years before the country is 
thoroughly prospected. Even tunnels may pass 
through a lean spot in a mine. 

After the first week, in consultation with my 
partner I concluded to seek "pastures new." Only 
a little after daylight found me on my way up the 
left branch of the creek. The mountain between 
the two creeks was covered with timber, and the 
mountain not so high as those on each side of it, 
however it gradually increased in height the nearer 
it approached the range. I had never been up this 
creek before and of course it was all new territory 
to me. 

_ Slowly winding my way along the mountain 
side I came to the famous Equator mine. To my 
surprise they had installed a small steam engine 
and all the hoisting was done by that means. New- 
ore chambers were being opened and fifty men 
were working day and night. It required a team 
making three and four loads each day to the mill 
There was very little use of prospecting near this 
mine for men had already been there with pick 



64 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

and shovel, so I passed on from one to four miles 
further. 

It was nearly a mile from the Equator to the 
top of Leavenworth mountain, and from there due 
west some seven or eight miles to the Continental 
Range. In this area, which was really in the heart 
of the mining region, there was quite a territory 
of unexplored ground which might contain valuable 
mineral deposits. This was a problem no one could 
answer without investigation, which meant work 
with the pick and shovel. Of course this work 
must be guided to some extent by indications, often 
uncertain and misleading. 

To find a mine, either good or worthless, it is 
absolutely necessary to find the bedrock in place. 
I spent two weeks with this object in view, but it 
is always uncertain how deep the fill may be. The 
greatest obstacle the prospector encounters in this 
debris composed of loose rock and dirt. Just how 
to remove this obstruction was a matter of great 
importance. About six miles above Georgetown I 
saw a branch flowing into the creek. Following this 
up I found its source was from the lower part of a 
large glacial ice bank. Perhaps it had once been 
snow at some remote period of the earth while 
adjusting its surface, but it was solid ice now. It 
was about one mile long, and at places a quarter 
mile wide. I made no effort to ascertain its thick- 
ness. 

My intention in going up this little branch was 
to look for bedrock, and maybe a solid vein of mi- 
neral waiting for some one to come along and claim 
it. Prospectors like others often imagine things far 
beyond the real. Instead of this glittering wealth I 
saw many beautiful cascades, with scraggy chap- 
arral bushes growing down to the edge of the 
water and difficult to get through. At one place 
they covered four or five acres on each side of the 
branch so dense and thick that I had to go around 
them. This was an excellent place for bear and 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 65 

mountain lion that infested this part of the coun- 
try, as I learned later. 

But the great iceberg was the principal feature 
that attracted my attention as well as admiration. 
At the lower end of the "berg" there was no small 
undergrowth, but a liberal number of large hem- 
lock pine trees. With all these wild surroundings 
I took my frugal lunch, using ice cold water as it 
emerged from its own repository. This solitude 
and loneliness was enough to inspire one's thoughts 
and lift him above the sordid affairs of life, but in 
my case they continued to grovel on a lower plane, 
with mercenary views only. 

It occurred to me this wasting water might be 
turned aside from its natural channel and carried 
along by a ditch to desirable points and used in re- 
moving the debris that covers the bedrock. The 
more I thought about the scheme the more plau- 
i)able it appeared ; of course the details would have 
to be worked out as we got to them. I followed 
along up the mountain near the iceberg in order 
to find out more definitely in regard to its dimen- 
sions. It extended on above timber line, in fact 
nearly to the summit. On reaching the top I could 
see Gray's Peak some three or four miles in the dis- 
tance, also the place where I had worked and never 
received any pay for my labor. 

I retraced my route back to the lower end of 
the iceberg, and then moved along what I deemed 
to be on a water level for a mile or more, in order 
to see if there was anything to prevent the con- 
struction of a ditch. Finding no great obstruction, 
as it was late in the evening, I hastened to my 
cabin, reaching there a little after dark. I found 
Burkholder down in the city, and we went back 
to the cabin where I drew a diagram of the two 
creeks, with Leavenworth mountain between them, 
also showing the location of Equator and Terrible 
mines. We agreed, as next day was Sunday, to go 
out on the mountain where I had been digging, 



66 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

also to the little branch, the chaparral thicket, and 
iceberg. 

We spent the entire day walking, talking and 
making investigations too tedious to mention. We 
decided however several important questions. 
First, that it was rather a big undertaking for two 
men with a very limited capital ; he said $2.00 per 
day was about as much as he wished to take out 
of his earnings, and with me I would soon be at 
the end of my rope. Second, that it was too far to 
walk and do a day's work, and for this reason it 
would be necessary to camp near the place. And 
we reached still another conclusion, that consider- 
ing the altitude it would only be a short time be- 
fore snow would stop the work, as I had learned 
to my sorrow just a few miles across the mountain, 
and about the same height, so it was deemed pru- 
dent to wait until next season. 

I might have found employment in some of the 
mines but did not like the idea of working by the 
day under a boss. I had never been used to it, so I 
spent two or three days providing enough wood 
for the approaching winter, as I wanted to take a 
rest and not be in too big a hurry. I felt safe enough 
on the money question for any emergency, by 
being careful. Sometimes there is luck in leisure. 
I might try it a little while. I had tried work and 
the results were not very encouraging. 

Formerly I had always been very fortunate in 
finding something to do of a suitable character. 
One of my slogans, that I often repeated, was that 
a man can always find something to do if he is 
willing, ready and competent. These three things 
are needed to give satisfaction. A few days later, 
in a most casual way, and without any particular 
purpose, I stopped at a vegetable store. Meeting 
Mr. Clark, the proprietor, a man some sixty years 
of age, who had recently sold a mine for $5,000., 
and now had more money than sense, I suggested 
to him that he ought to have a clerk to help him 
in the business, 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 67 

He said: "Yes, I need one but there are so many 
"dag on" rascals in the country I am afraid to risk 
them." I told him about teaching school here in 
Georgetown, and that many of the best citizens 
knew me, that I neither gambled, nor even went 
into any of the saloons, also that I had clerked 
for a number of men in the mercantile business. In 
further conversation he mentioned that the busi- 
ness would not justify him in paying more than 
$40.00 per month, if that suited me I could com- 
mence at once. 

The stock he kept for the trade consisted of po- 
tatoes, cabbages, onions, tomatoes and other pro- 
ducts the farmers in the valley brought up for sale. 
Before the day was over I suggested to him, as 
there were already counters and scales to begin 
with, why not add the proper shelving and put in 
a general line of groceries. The suggestion met his 
approval at once, so I found a Denver paper, and 
the advertisement of a wholesale grocery house 
with the various items kept for sale, just the things 
we wanted. 

I made out an order that evening, enclosed a 
certified check and instructed them to forward out 
as soon as possible, also requesting them to fill the 
order at their lowest prices, as future orders would 
follow. Clark was a good carpenter himself, so 
the shelving was all in good shape by the time 
goods arrived. I told him to have a nice sign put 
up over the door, and to place an advertisement 
in the paper that he was ready and prepared to 
wait on the public with a fresh supply of family 
•groceries. 

He was nearly tickled to death at the idea of 
being a real merchant. He cut off the back end 
part of the store room by a partition for a sleeping 
room. We were doing well and building up a good 
trade and had sent in our second and third order. 
I noticed the old man, at times, was slow and in- 
different, frequently he was absent half a day, and 
made no explanation of what he was doing. At 



68 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

other times he talked too much and too loud, say- 
ing many things unnecessary and out of place, es- 
pecially for a merchant. 

To my surprise he told me one day that he had 
rented another house, and after making certain 
changes was about ready to open a new restaurant, 
and that from now on he wanted me to occupy his 
room at night, and take my meals at the restau- 
rant, and to look after its management all I could, 
for he had still another scheme that would take up 
most of his time. 

From this and other various causes I began to 
suspect that he had wheels in his head that were 
not running as smoothly as they ought to. The 
new plan suited me very well as I had been staying 
in my cabin and doing my own cooking. In clean- 
ing up his room I found several empty wine bot- 
tles and egg shells. Asking him about it he said 
that he broke a fresh egg every morning in a gob- 
let, and after filling it with wine, drank it in order 
to rejuvenate his system and make him young 
again. This explained to me why he talked too 
much and too loud at times, but it was none of my 
business, so I said nothing. 

Just about this time Bob Harper and Milt Buck- 
hana from Alabama made their appearance. What 
on earth they wanted to come for was more than 
I could tell. They were both dead broke. They were 
nearly scared to death, had pawned their pistols 
and valise in Denver for enough money to ride up 
in the bus for fear bandits might attack them if 
they walked. I had to give them $15.00 to send after 
their things. After supper at the restaurant I con- 
veyed them up to my cabin and explained to them 
some of the arts of cooking, and showed them 
where there was plenty to eat as long as it lasted, 
and when out we would get more. So they walked 
back with me down to the store. 

We met Mr. Clark and he was in one of his 
moods to be pleasant and kind hearted toward the 
boys. He told them to come down to the restaurant 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 69 

and get their breakfast, and that he would give 
them their board and $3.00 per day to work for 
him, provided they did good work. He was pre- 
empting vacant lots by putting foundations for 
buildings on them, and putting posts around to 
show the size of the lot. He had bought several old 
buildings from parties, putting up new houses, 
and was moving these onto vacant lots. This was 
a money-making scheme of his own, and no wheels 
in his head on that score. 

He paid them off at night and said to Harper 
that he would not need him any longer, and told 
me privately that he was no account to work, 
though the other fellow did fairly well. I knew Bob 
of old and did not expect him to hold his job. Next 
evening he came down to the store and I asked 
him what he expected to do out here in this rough 
country, and he replied that he was not going to 
stay any longer than he could help. That he had 
already written his mother to send him enough 
money to carry him back home. 

Really I had a very poor opinion of him myself 
and was glad to learn that he was going to leave. 
It was still fresh in my mind that while he wab 
fighting a man in the streets of Larkinsville, I step- 
ped to the door, and, as I did so the man broke 
away and ran. Harper threw a rock that hit the 
door facing close to me and glancing off broke a 
lot of queensware on the shelf. When he returned 
to town later, and while sober, I called his atten- 
tion to what he had done but he made no offer to 
pay for the damage, but this was all Harper blood. 
A few years after returning home he was killed in 
a fight. He must have been afraid the big moun- 
tains out here would fall on him, for he was a 
holy terror at home. 

The other "feller" as Clark called him continued 
to work while the job lasted. His brother-in-law re- 
ceived his remittance and we both gladly saw him 
depart. Buck went up one of the forks and found 
work at a saw-mill, returning in about a month 



70 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

with more money than he earned by wages. Of 
course I knew how he got it. The next I heard of 
him he was connected in some way with a saloon 
that had a gambling den upstairs. Later he knocked 
at my door one morning between three and four 
o'clock and asked me to get up. 

He had lost sleep for several nights and maybe 
had "booze" under his belt. While I was fixing him 
something to eat he was telling me what a "rat- 
tling" time he had with the gamblers, and pulled out 
a roll of money nearly as large as my arm. "How 
much have you got, Milt?" I asked. "Oh there is 
no telling, I have been adding to the roll for several 
nights, I know there are a number of 20's but I 
couldn't take time to count it. I am going to start 
home on the coach which leaves at daylight. I may 
have some trouble in getting off but I am going to 
try it." I saw him off all right but I learned later 
he did not get home with any money. He did well 
to get home alive. These events are mentioned to 
show the kind of a life a man may lead in the moun- 
tains. 

It was now spring of the year, though there was 
lots of snow on the mountains, but the roads were 
kept open by constant travel. I might mention here 
that during the winter I met a lawyer by the name 
of Frank Pope. He was by birth a Mississippian, 
and had been captain of a company, from that state, 
during the war. He was a fine looking man, dressed 
well, and the presumption was that he had lots of 
money, though a person cannot always tell by ap- 
pearances. On his invitation I stepped into his 
office one night, and in talking about the mining 
prospects in general I mentioned the plan I had 
in view. Taking up a piece of paper I drew a dia- 
gram of the whole scheme and explained its possi- 
bilities. 

The main thing needed by me now, as I explained 
to him, was a partner with a small capital, who 
would hire a man to work with me all the time 
during the season, and who would share equally 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 71 

in all discoveries that might be made. This seems 
to me, he said, "one of the best things yet presented 
to my mind, a kind of machine for making disco- 
veries. I have a friend back in Mississippi by the 
name of Harmon. He is a judge in chancery court 
embracing a certain division of the state, and is a 
man of some means. In a letter from him a short 
time ago he spoke of becoming interested in some 
of the mines. As this venture will not cost him 
much, I will send him the diagrams with full ex- 
planations, and if he thinks favorably we will take 
a half interest with you." 

The more Pope thought, and perhaps talked to 
others about the scheme the more enthused he be- 
came, even writing his friend Harmon a second 
letter, who wrote back expressing his willingness 
to be one of the four partners. Clark sold out his 
restaurant, as it was not paying expenses. I had 
insisted from the beginning that everything taken 
from the store for use in the restaurant must be 
charged that way, otherwise I would not be re- 
sponsible for the success of the store. 

When the snow disappeared around Georgetown 
I notified Mr. Clark that as soon as it was off the 
higher altitudes, where I expected to do prospect- 
ing, that I would have to quit, and was giving him 
timely notice to that effect. About a week later 
he told me that two grocery men had agreed to 
take all his goods at first cost, and for me to assist 
them in making an inventory. I was gratified to 
show Mr. Clark a balance sheet that he had made 
a few hundred dollars in the grocery business. The 
last I heard of him he was in the butcher business 
in Central City. 

It was now about the 20th of May 1869. I easily 
found Burkholder and on Sunday, the only idle 
day with him, we went out to see the iceberg and 
the condition of the snow in that region. We found 
it melting rapidly, but too much in the timber 
where we had to commence, though thought it 
would be all right in another week. By inquiry of 



72 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

parties who had used water in the valley for irri- 
gating purposes I learned that a fall of one inch 
to ten feet was just right for water to flow without 
washing the channel. I also learned from them how 
to make a triangle, and how to use it so as to give 
the ditch a uniform grade. A man might guess at 
it but the eye is often deceived. 

A device of this character would be very useful 
to a farmer in draining his land. It is made by 
taking two pieces of timber 1x2 and dove-tailing 
one end of each at right angles and then cutting off 
the legs so they will be ten feet apart and of equal 
length. One foot above, and inside each leg adjust 
a bar of the same size as the legs of the triangle. 
Suspend a plumb line from the apex of the trian- 
gle, first placing its legs on a level surface, and 
mark on the bar with a scribe awl where the plumb 
line touches. Put a substance an inch thick under 
one leg of the triangle and mark where the line 
touches and this will give a fall of one inch to 
ten feet. 

As a good deal depended upon the correctness of 
this instrument, I made it myself to be sure it was 
right. Walking down the street one day I was 
about to pass a man. He didn't have the appearance 
of a business man, a miner or a gambler, and I 
could generally tell what a man was by his appear- 
ance. He was moving along rather slowly, I asked 
him if he was looking for something. "Yes I am 
looking for a job. I have been working on 
a ranch down in the valley at $25.00 per month 
and thought I might do better up here, but so far 
have failed to find anything to do." 

"Well, I want to hire a man to help me build 
a ditch, and if you are a good worker I will give 
you $50.00 per month and board, such as we cook 
for ourselves out in camp." "That will suit me 
exactly," he said, "for very few men can do more 
work with a pick and shovel than I can, but I am 
nearly out of money and want to commence at 
once." I told him he could stay in my cabin with- 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 73 

out any cost to him, and could begin next Monday, 
to which he agreed. 

This was my leisure week in which to get every- 
thing ready. I bought a heavy piece of cloth, 10x4 
wide and 5 yards long to make an "A" tent for our 
camp, also gave an order to the tinner to make me 
a "dutch" oven for baking bread. The next day 
being Saturday I asked Lura (that was the first 
part of his name) to walk with me up to the place 
we were going to work. We carried a pick and 
shovel, making a kind of "jack trail" from the 
creek below up to the camping place. Lum was de- 
lighted with the iceberg and the wild scenery which 
had become commonplace to me. There was yet 
some snow in the timber. 

I hired from the owner, a driver with two pack 
animals to carry our equipage consisting of two 
picks, two shovels, one axe, one hatchet, blankets, 
cooking utensils and "grub" for two weeks. The 
triangle was light and I carried it myself. After 
we had unloaded and the driver had departed, we 
went around to a point below the iceberg, and at 
places Lum shoveled away the snow. I made a 
survey to the camp where the timber was much 
lower and the snow had disappeared. 

After dinner, as we had the water grade esta- 
blished, we commenced the ditch and continued 
the balance of the week on both sides of the camp. 
In the meantime we took our hatchet and other 
tools needed and hewed out a place in the iceberg 
to place our beef steak. Perhaps few men have 
had the privilege of eating beef frozen in ice, 
formed ten thousand or perhaps a million years 
ago, but we continued to use it for that purpose 
all the summer. 

The next week we pushed the ditch on back to 
the little branch and turned in the water to see 
if it would flow as expected, and found it moved 
along just right. The next thing was to find a suit- 
able place to make the first "boom." It was all new 
to me and I had some erroneous ideas. For instance 



74 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

I thought the water turned loose down the moun- 
tain at any old place would move off the debris 
and expose the bedrock, but in this I was sadly 
mistaken, for it had very little effect on it. I began 
to think the enterprise was a most egregious fail- 
ure, but it was not my intention to give it up so 
easily. 

It is said that necessity is the mother of inven- 
tion, in my case it was at least an incentive to 
thought. That silent monitor used by men as a 
lever in the social, literary and financial affairs 
of earth, must help me solve this dilemma. I did 
not care to let Lum or any one know that I was 
disappointed and puzzled. As it was Saturday eve- 
ning and we were nearly out of supplies we stacked 
our arms and went to town. This gave me more 
time to decide the proper thing to do. I could use 
a whole night and day for that purpose. 

Evidently the one thing needed was more water. 
I was not nearly big enough to squeeze the ice- 
berg. Jack the giant killer or Sinbad the sailor 
might do things of this kind, but it was not in my 
line. There was only one thing to do, if it was 
possible, and that was to build a reservoir at the 
proper place on the side of the mountain. It seems 
that I ought to have thought of this the first thing. 
There was some question in my mind whether I 
could do it or not. One thing sure, I could try, 
even if failure should be the result. 

The plan was all worked out in my head, pro- 
vided there was no hitch in the program. I pur- 
chased a heavy open-tooth saw, a hammer, nails 
of different sizes and six planks 1x10 inches, six 
feet long, dressed on one side, also one piece 1x12 
and two feet long. Resuming, in due time, our work 
on the mountain, Lum continued on the supply 
ditch, while with pick and shovel T went to make 
a careful selection of a place to build a reservoir. 
I went all the way to the creek below, a half mile 
or more and then back taking in the declivity of the 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 75 

mountain, which is an important matter in making 
a "boom" down the side. 

About forty feet below the supply ditch I marked 
off the reservoir giving it fifteen feet frontage, 
flanging into the hill on each side. Next morning 
■-ve both commenced throwing dirt. After digging 
back on a level six or eight feet we embedded about 
a foot inside of where we commenced digging two 
six-inch logs two feet apart, and on these logs 
constructed a flue twenty-five inches wide and 
eight inches deep. We built on each side and over 
this flue with logs as close together as possible, 
filling in between these logs with dirt, packed with 
a pestle. When complete it was in a measure 
water tight. 

We dug back fifteen or eighteen feet and it was 
nearly twenty feet across at the top, and when 
nearly full was four feet deep. We had made a 
head-gate with handle so as to raise it and let 
the water out. It required two hours to fill and 
five minutes to run out. Most of two days was re- 
quired in tracing the water down the mountain, 
cutting roots and removing obstructions in the 
beginning, and it kept one man busy along the 
ditch for that purpose, while the other remained 
at the reservoir to put off small booms at the 
start. 

These details are mentioned here because they 
were common to all other reservoirs and booms, 
made in the various other places. It required all of 
a month, including building the reservoir, to com- 
plete the chasm down the side of the mountain, 
for it took two or three days to repair the road 
near the creek. When the chasm was made and 
completed the bedrock was exposed nearly all the 
way, and that was the object of the enterprise. The 
cut was from five to twelve feet deep, and shows 
the difficulty that menaces the prospector in making 
discoveries where the bedrock is covered up to 
this depth. 

From the fact that loose dirt and rocks were 



76 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

still falling from the banks of the cut it was rather 
dangerous to make a close inspection, though we 
could see down from the surface favorable indica- 
tions. We went to work again on the supply ditch, 
for I had already picked out a place for another 
reservoir. Lum was a good faithful hand, with an 
easy agreeable disposition. He could do about a 
third more ditching than I could. In body he had 
more strength and also more endurance for hard 
work. If a tree happened in our line of survey 
we simply dug it up, and in this way kept a smooth 
flow of water. 

The location for the second reservoir was about 
a half mile from the iceberg, and on reaching that 
point I decided to stop work for a short time on 
the supply ditch. I concluded it would be safe to 
go down the boom and find out the results of the 
first cut made. Maybe I was as rich as Croesus 
and didn't know it. In case of an accident it was 
best for both of us to be along, and besides Lum 
was a good hand with a pick and shovel. We com- 
menced at the top in order to knock off any loose 
rocks that might seem dangerous. 

About two hundred feet below the reservoir we 
found what would be ordinarily termed good in- 
dications. Any vein extending down through gra- 
nite, the indigenous rock of the country, is simply 
"indications" until it has some kind of mineral, 
and then it assumes the dignity of a mine. The more 
gold or silver, the two royal metals, that are found 
in the vein, the bigger it is. With this definition of 
a mine we had merely found a fissure, which might 
be a mine by development. 

We worked there two days with a well-defined 
vein but no mineral, so concluded to go further 
down the cut, and fare better or do worse. Some- 
thing like three hundred feet further down we made 
a similar discovery. Working only two or three 
hours on this we passed on, hoping to find some- 
thing better. Over half way down to the creek 
where the mountain was not nearly so steep, nor 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 77 

was the cut more than four or five feet deep, we 
found "indications" much more promising. 

The lay of the ground and the flow from the 
mine, if such it was, reminded me very much of 
the Equator at the time the old negro was trying 
to find the vein, and the white man virtually took 
it away from him. No doubt Bowman the colored 
man would have discovered the mine if he had 
been let alone. I was greatly encouraged, at least 
for the time. We commenced fifteen feet below 
with an open cut ten feet wide, with two objects 
in view. First, to make sure of finding the fissure 
in the bedrock, and second, that we might be able 
to timber and cover a place for sinking a shaft 
during the approaching winter. 

While Lum enjoyed himself with the shovel I 
went below to examine other "indications" which 
would be developed if those above proved any value. 
As he was still enjoying himself I cut logs to 
build a small cabin 12x14, also timber to fix a 
shelter over the intended shaft. It took us two 
days to complete the cabin and prepare for work 
during the winter. There was a well defined fissure 
of about five feet, which is the proper width for a 
shaft, and it ought to be eight feet long to give 
good working room. All we lacked now was a 
good pay streak of mineral. Like the young man 
telling that he came very near getting married, all 
he lacked was the girl saying yes ! But the season 
for top work was rapidly passing and we must get 
back on the supply ditch. 

As it occurs to my mind I must mention a little 
episode that took place while we were working on 
the cabin. It was only a short distance, say a hun- 
dred yards, up toward the branch, where the cha- 
parral thicket set in. A disturbance of some cha- 
racter caused the little black squirrels to chatter 
and bark a great deal more than usual. From ap- 
pearance there must have been a hundred or more 
all trying to bark at the same time. As we could 



78 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

see nothing, Lum concluded to pick his way out 
into the thicket and try to find out the cause. 

In a short time I lost sight of him but could see 
the bushes shaking. While watching and looking 
I saw a big mountain lion move up on the hill 
beyond the branch in clear view, not more than a 
hundred yards distant. He stopped, switched his 
long tail, looked back, and I could see he had one 
of the squirrels in his mouth. I called to Lum and 
told him to go on across the branch and he could 
see the lion better than I could, but he came back 
and said he was not hunting lions, though he had 
often heard of them and would give $10.00 to see 
one, provided there was a good running chance to 
get away. 

On our arrival at the "North Pole," and taking 
possession of the iceberg, we noticed these sleek 
black squirrels were both numerous and very 
frisky. At first they barked at us as intruders, but 
the less attention we paid to them the better they 
liked it, until they got so tame that some of them 
were careless about getting out of our way. Just 
where they came from, or how they got there, is 
more than I can tell. They are the only black squir- 
rels I ever saw or heard of. They are about two- 
thirds the size of the gray squirrel. Perhaps those 
well versed in zoology may be able to tell all about 
them. 

Returning to the city I soon found Burkholder, 
and we called on Pope at his office, where I made 
a verbal report of the progress in the work and the 
visible results, and in turn they made payment of 
their part of expenses. Pope suggested that we 
name the three discoveries Faith, Hope and Chari- 
ty. In all probability the names had very little to do 
with their future value. 

At the request of Mr. Pope I wrote to Judge E. 
P. Harmon at Friars Point, Miss., a rather long 
letter giving him the full particulars of the work 
and the results, with a hope of something better in 
the future. I also enclosed a statement of his part 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 79 

of the expense. In his reply I was pleased to find 
his check in full payment, and also a kind request 
that I write him another long letter. As future 
events unfold I will have more to say of the Judge. 

In building the second reservoir it required less 
than half the time spent on the first. We used some 
of the same material over, nor was it nearly so 
large. Experience had taught us several things that 
we might have known at the beginning. We felled 
a number of trees near the creek to prevent damage 
to the road, completed the whole thing in about 
ten days and resumed work in pushing the supply 
ditch further along. 

Already we had spent a day with my theodolite 
(triangle) in making a survey of two miles or more 
to find out for sure whether water could be put 
on the top of Leavenworth mountain or not. We 
found there would be both trouble and additional 
expense, of which I will speak further along, yet 
it was possible, though it might require two or 
three years if only two men were to do the work. 
Examination of the second cut showed up several 
fine "indications" similar to the first but no min- 
eral. Of course I was greatly disappointed but had 
a mighty poor way of helping myself, otherwise 
than to have a heart for any fate. Maybe these 
fissures were yet in their budding period, and the 
fruit would have to grow and ripen before it was 
ready to gather. No one knows, or ever will know, 
how these fissures cleft their way through a solid 
granite formation, and still less do they know how 
the mineral found its way to fill up the space. A 
few thousand or hundred thousand years hence, 
these fissures and others of a similar character 
may be valuable mines, worked by people living at 
that remote period who will need the various kind 
of mineral the same as we do now. I am not ser- 
iously advancing this as a theory, but as an idea 
worthy of consideration. It may be one of Nature's 
ways of providing for future generations. 

We were now working fully a mile from the ice- 



80 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

berg though had to go there two or three times 
each day after water, as it had to be turned back 
into its natural channel. Several little flurries of 
snow had passed over and I knew it was coming 
pretty soon. One morning a little later, there was 
eight or ten inches of the "beautiful" on the ground. 
After breakfast we carried our blanqets and sup- 
plies down to the cabin where a brand new feature 
presented itself. 

All around the cabin there were fresh bear tracks 
that looked to me half as long as my arm. We fol- 
lowed his tracks up to the chaparral thicket. I said 
to Lum to go in and stir him up, and I would stay 
out so as to see him run, and then I could tell how 
big he was. "No sir," he said, "this is your time 
to go in and run out the bear. I went in and ran 
out the lion." But I insisted the bear was not bo- 
thering me, and I preferred to let him alone. So we 
went back after the tools and other things and 
brought them down. 

While we were resting and talking I suggested 
that we could now commence developing our dis- 
covery, and that we would fix up a nice place to 
work. I could see Lum was thinking about some- 
thing. Presently he said : "I expect to spend the 
winter down in the valley, and to tell you the truth 
I don't like the prospect of being "chawed" up by a 
bear." So we rolled up our blankets and went down 
to the city. 

The first thing I did on reaching Georgetown 
was to hunt up a man named Roberson whom I 
knew qnite well. He had killed several bears, and I 
told him about this one. He tried to get me to go 
back with him and see the fun as he called it, but 
such amusement was out of my line. I told him that 
maybe Lum would go, but he too declined the 
honor. However, he found a man willing to go, as 
he said to help him bring back the carcass. I gave 
him the key to the cabin and told him there was 
plenty in there to eat, and wood to use in cooking. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 81 

He expected to be absent two or three days or 
longer, if necessary. 

If time and space permitted I might describe 
this punitive expedition as related by Mr. Rober- 
son ; suffice to say that the deceased Mr. Bruin was 
given a free ride down the mountain on an impro- 
vised sled, thence bj wagon to the butcher's shop 
where he hung on exhibition to an admiring crowd. 
His remains, some six or eight feet long, and fat 
as a pig, when sold at 20 cents per pound, and in- 
cluding the pelt enriched the hunters to the tune 
of $100.00 or more. Mr. Roberson told me he went 
through the chaparral thicket and found where his 
bearship had commenced building his hibernating 
quarters. 

A few of my friends, who like myself were more 
prospectors than miners, told me about a rich float 
found up above, and west of the King David. I had 
dug a number of holes trying to find where this 
float came from and knew the location referred 
to by them. This particular side of the mountain 
had no timber on it, so a light snow soon packed 
down and in a manner disappeared. Finding a mine 
is like looking for a needle in a hay-stack, the 
same place may be searched over several times 
before finding it, so I concluded to try it over at 
least a few days. 

I may as well confess that I was not very an- 
xious to spend the winter at my new mining camp 
where preparation had ben made for that purpose. 
In a measure I felt it both my duty, and may be 
greatly to my interest, so had not entirely given 
up the idea. I held a consultation with Burkholder 
and Pope and they were inclined to think it best 
to wait until next year. I told them my only busi- 
ness now was prospecting, and they could use their 
own option in sharing in the results. They agreed 
their interest would be confined to the Leaven- 
worth Boom Ditch Co., and that only. 

With an early start I returned by noon from my 
pew mining camp with part of my tools, and the 



82 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

balance of the supplies left at the cabin, so I am 
now ready to commence searching for the "needle 
in the hay stack." A man gets very little credit for 
his effort or for anything else in this world except 
success. On the third day out on the desolate 
mountain side, with a gloomy tired feeling I sat 
down to rest. Reflecting over some of the events 
that had taken place since leaving my Alabama 
home nearly three years previous was not calcu- 
lated to put me in a very pleasant frame of mind. 
For the time I lost sight of the many good things 
received, for which I ought to feel truly thankful. 

Under this spirit of resentment I stood up and 
with outstretched arm exclaimed : "Damn such a 
country anyhow !" Ordinarily, the use of this little 
expletive, which is in common use by a large num- 
ber of men, would not amount to a "hill of beans," 
but it was decidedly different with me. This was 
the first profane word that had passed my lips for 
sixteen years dating back to the time of the first 
school I taught in my fourteenth year of age. It 
seems this little slip opened the flood gates, so the 
next two years a species of profanity was adopted, 
on special occasions, which for freshness and vigor 
was in keeping with the latest and most fluent 
style. One day Reason came back and claimed her 
own, then the vile habit stopped and was no more. 

The above paragraph might have been left out, 
gladly I would do so, but there is a dereliction of 
duty by omission as well as commission. In writing 
these memoirs it is not my intention to throw bou- 
quets to myself, but to hold a steady hand and hew 
to the line even if the chips fly back and hit me in 
the face. Some may think I had simply lost my reli- 
gion, but this was not the case for I didn't have 
any to lose. Without knowing it I had drifted into 
a kind of pantheism, tempered in a degree with 
rationalism. I knew there were certain things I 
didn't know and couldn't find out, nor could any 
one else. In this respect there was a strain of 
agnosticism which was accepted as a fact. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 83 

During my early years of maturity before the 
war I kept a book in which I formulated at differ- 
ent times a number of "dont's" as a rule and guide 
to my conduct in life. 

(1) Don't drink intoxicating liquor, because it 
will ruin the physical and nervous system and will 
cause a man to do foolish things. 

(2 Don't use tobacco in any form, it is a use- 
less, filthy habit and contains a poison that will 
kill. A big unsightly worm and man are the only 
living creatures that will put it inside their mouth. 

(3) Don't use profane language, because it will 
only add fuel to an angry feeling, and show to 
others that you have a wicked harmful nature. 

(4) Don't use obscene language, it indicates a 
base heart and depraved nature. 

(5) Don't gamble ( because it will train you in 
line to want something for nothing, which is next 
thing to stealing. It opens the way to a life of dis- 
sipation. 

(6) Don't keep bad company. All nice people 
will shun you as a bird of the same "feather." It 
is sure to corrupt your morals and lead you to 
trouble. 

(7) Don't spend your time in idleness, because 
life is too short to lose an hour that might be spent 
to a useful purpose. 

For several years these seven "donts" were kept 
inviolate, and as such were almost part of my life ; 
due to this fact they deserve this passing notice. 
To break one was in a measure like breaking a 
spoke in a wheel, or making a gap in a fence en- 
closing a wheat field. The second one was broken 
while a prisoner of war at Camp Chase, and the 
first one was slightly fractured shortly after the 
war. And now the third one had slipped into the 
"flint mills," though subsequently rescued without 
a great deal of damage. The two first rules have 
never been restored to their original position, yet 
I am glad to say their violation has never been 
sadly abused. 



84 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

We read about a set of ten rules said to have 
been made by Moses about 1400 B. C. called the 
Decalogue. They were given to the Israelites as 
a guide to their conduct, and hold good now for 
the same purpose among men dwelling on earth. 
It is not my intention to supplement or substitute 
these seven rules for that ancient document, which 
Moses said was written by the finger of God, 
though it took him forty days and nights to do it. 
Reading the life of Ben Franklin we find he for- 
mulated twelve cardinal virtues to be used as point- 
ers along the journey of life. I am making no 
claim to the originality of the idea of formula- 
ting certain rules of conduct, but do claim there is 
virtue in these seven dont's if practiced. 

These so-called "donts" were supplemented with 
an appendix in the shape of a resolution : "Do right 
under every condition, and assist your fellow man 
to bear the burdens of life as much as possible." 
This was all the religion I had or knew anything 
about. It may be these rules, and as some may 
think erratic views entertained, in a measure con- 
trolled some of the events I am now trying to re- 
call, but the failure of success in my efforts evi- 
dently was due to some other cause. 



CHAPTER IV 

ALLOW TWO OLD MEN TO MOVE INTO MY CABIN 
WITH ME. INVESTIGATION OF SPIRITUALISM. 
ARRIVAL OF BROTHER DANIEL. WE BUILD A 
FLUE AROUND A HIGH CLIFF. JUDGE HAR- 
MON PAYS US A VISIT. McMURTY OWNS 
THE DIVES MINE. DAVID HERSHA DIES. 
VISIT OF U. S. GRANT. COMMENCE 
TUNNEL ON THE KING DAVID MINE. 
ARRIVAL OF BROTHER SHEPARD. 

One of the characteristics of a prospector is to 
carry a lot of rocks in his pockets, regular geolo- 
gical specimens of mineral-bearing quartz, which 
when traced to their original home may make him 
a bonanza king. Of course these visionary dreams 
only occur when he is in one of his hopeful moods, 
which happens about as often as the moon gets 
full. Sometimes he has so many of these specimens 
that it taxes his memory to recollect their different 
locations. It becomes a kind of second nature with 
him to pick up every strange looking rock and 
then break it to see what is inside. He carries with 
him a magnifying glass for that purpose ; also to 
light his pipe by coverging the rays of the sun. 
If the wind is blowing it is all the same to him. 

A few days yet remained before the season would 
close against surface prospecting, and the time 
was spent with more vigor than usual. There were 
several of us engaged in trying to locate the same 
mine somewhere above us. We often met and com- 
pared samples of float, and knew it would be rich 
in silver, but could not tell whether a "big thing" 
or not. There was a spirit of friendly rivalry as to 
who would be the lucky one, but a heavy snow 
made its appearance, which caused us to seek shel- 
ter and wait a more favorable time. 



86 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

I had a good cabin and reasonably plenty of 
everything to make me comfortable, so concluded 
not to "rush the cattle." On a bleak cold day while 
the howling winds were drifting the snow, two old 
men, at least much older than myself, knocked at 
my door. One of them was named Webster 
and I have forgotten the name of the other, 
but he had hurt one of his legs and it had not yet 
healed. They wanted to occupy part of my 
cabin. Though strangers, yet they were prospec- 
tors like myself, and not being first class miners 
were unable to get work in any of the paying 
mines. 

There was an empty bunk and plenty of room. 
They told a tale of disappointment and failure, but 
still hoped for better results. A fellow feeling often 
makes us wondrous kind, so I told them under cer- 
tain conditions they could move in. First, that I 
had no patience with a drunken man, or one drink- 
ing enough to think himself smart, and want to talk 
with his mouth. That I would expect them to keep 
the cabin clean, and to use their own cooking ves- 
sels and table ware, also to keep the stack of wood 
up to its present standard. And another thing in 
particular, not to use my bed in my absence. 

Later I found them to be nice, agreeable men 
and I had no regrets for my extension of kindness. 
After a short time the one with a lame leg went to 
the valley and I saw him no more, but Webster con- 
tinued to stay two or three years. My time was 
now engaged in reading a few books and many 
papers, some of them old ones, in regard to Spir- 
itualism. It was entirely a new cult to me and 
might be true or it might not. I had pamphlets and 
papers on both sides of the question and was try- 
ing to sift the chaff from the wheat, so to speak. 

Any person investigating an assumed fact ought 
to do so unbiased by previously formed opinions, 
prejudice or self-interest. If he can not clear his 
mind of these three impediments, that will pre- 
vent his reaching a just decision; he is sure to 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 87 

reach an erroneous conclusion. With either or all 
of these three things standing in the doorway of 
light and knowledge it is simply a loss of time and 
talent to investigate any kind of a subject. It is 
well to bear this in mind for it is a self-evident 
fact. During the winter it was my privilege to at- 
tend a number of seances, given by Mrs. De Lamar 
and William Gray as the mediums. Her husband, 
Frank De Lamar, was one of the leading lawyers 
of the city, and my acquaintance with the family 
was due to their children, at a former time, attend- 
ing my school. It is not my purpose at present to 
tell all that I saw or the conclusions reached, as 
it would extend beyond the scope of these mem- 
oirs. I have in manuscript form, enough written 
on this subject, and others of a kindred nature, to 
fill a book two hundred pages or more, in which I 
have given the evidence for reaching certain con- 
clusions extending through a period of over forty 
years. 

That a spirit entity, or whatever it is, might be 
able to impart information to denizens of the earth, 
was to me at that time a very unreasonable pro- 
position. But it was not a question whether it was 
reasonable or not, but one involving truth. 

During the winter season a man by the name of 
Caney Doss made his appearance. His brothers 
and sisters had attended my school, taught in 
Marshal County, Ala., and from them he learned 
my location. Being of a roving disposition he was 
here for business or adventure, however preferring 
the latter. He seemed to have plenty of money and 
was quite independent and self-reliant. Remaining 
with me a week or ten days he joined an expedi- 
tion, headed by Col. Jackson, who had been a Col- 
onel in a Texas Regiment, and crossed the range 
on snowshoes, pulling their supplies on sleds made 
for that purpose. 

Some three or four months later he returned. I 
was a little anxious to learn the nature of the ex- 
pedition but deferred asking at once. The next 



88 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

morning, about four o'clock, he was up preparing 
a hasty meal and said he would leave on the stage 
at daylight. Calling for pen, ink and paper, he 
handed me an order on Col. Jackson for $30.00 
and said, make him pay you. I received one letter 
from him out in Nevada and never heard from him 
any more. When Col. Jackson returned I presented 
the order, and he paid it without asking a single 
question, as he was about ready to take the stage 
and leave the country. I have mentioned the above 
incident to show some of the many features of 
mountain life. 

Possibly I might have spent the winter working in 
some of the mines, but I had decided not to work 
for any one but myself. As a recreation I spent 
part of my time in a nice, well-conducted billiard 
hall where I found a number of the popular East- 
ern papers, such as Harper's, Leslies' and Days 
Doings. I also learned to play the fascinating game 
of billiards, which cost me to the tune of $20.00 
or more, but I had at least that much fun. Here I 
met a new lot of guys, and gamblers, though never 
allowed myself to call them by name. 

About the middle of April I concluded to visit 
the place where I quit prospecting the year before 
to see if the snow was off and the frost was out 
of the ground enough to resume search for the 
"needle in the hay stack." I found on reaching the 
place one of the prospectors, a week before, had 
stuck his pick down exactly at the right place and 
turned up a lot of nice ore close to the grass roots. 
Several were at work sacking up the ore as taken 
out. I asked who made the discovery, and no one 
paid any attention to my question. The last hole I 
dug was a little below, to one side, and not a hun- 
dred feet from the place they were working. Some 
one named it Silver Plume. One singular thing 
about this mine was that in following the ore vein 
it went into the mountain on a level sixty or seventy 
feet before reaching solid bedrock, and then turned 
down at an angle of 45 degrees. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 89 

The mine became involved some way in a law- 
suit and was tied up, and I never heard of it pro- 
ducing- valuable results after this. Due to other 
mining resources, of which I will speak later, people 
began to build houses at the foot of the mountain 
below, and the village went by the name of Silver 
Plume. The last time I saw the place there was all 
of a thousand inhabitants, and some of the houses 
were less than a hundred yards from the King 
David. A big stamp mill had been built on the creek 
a short distance below. 

At this time I was geting downright tired of a 
rather forced idleness, and I was anxious to push 
the work of the Boom Ditch Co. I knew there was 
a big summer's work ahead of me if I reached cer- 
tain objective points. It was no easy matter to get 
the right kind of a man to help me in our work. I 
would have written Lum but did not know his ad- 
dress. Just at this nick of time brother Daniel 
came to me, fresh from the old home back in Ala- 
bama to try his luck in this foreign, and as some 
would say, God-forsaken country. I had been care- 
ful in all my letters written to home folk not to 
say anything- that would encourage any one to 
visit this country, and I wrote the truth too. There 
were too many uncertainties, even of life itself, to 
take the risk of advising others. 

Of all the men in the world I thought more of 
him than any other except my dear father. He was 
eight years my junior lacking a few days. I had 
taught him his first lessons at school, and it became 
natural for him to seek my council and advice. The 
seven rules previously mentioned, three of which 
I had broken, were easily kept by him, inviolate, 
without knowing of their existence as a guide to 
my conduct. We had both been raised on the 
same farm, and each one knew the meaning of 
the word "work." Some people think it means to 
"kill time" and then draw full pay all the same, 
which is altogether a selfish idea. 

In a few days we took a trip on the mountain to 



90 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

see the condition of the snow in that locality. It 
was still too deep to reach the iceberg though all 
right at the old camping place. I explained the 
magnitude of the enterprise, and that I could offer 
him fairly good wages to join with me in the work, 
which suited the purpose of his visit. The cabin 
previously built was all right, but would involve 
walking some distance up hill to reach the work. 
On the way I stopped at a saw mill and ordered 
800 feet of lumber 8x1, 10 feet long to be delivered 
at a designated point for use in building a flue. 

One week on the supply ditch brought us to a cliff 
at least two hundred feet high, around which we 
had to build a curving flue four hundred feet, in 
order to convey the water to ditch building ground 
beyond it. I had enquired of men who had used 
flues in gulch mining and they told me it would 
require a flue two feet wide and one foot high, 
but my own observation taught me that to in- 
crease the fall of the current would diminish the size 
of the stream, so I decided to give it five inches 
to the ten feet, instead of one inch. On the basis 
of this assumption I decided to make the flue eight 
inches wide and seven inches high. 

These same parties advised me that if the flue 
was much crooked I had better get a good car- 
penter to build it, but this would be an additional 
expense, so decided to do the work myself with 
the assistance of my brother. It occurred to me 
that any man with a careful steady hand could saw 
one piece of lumber to fit another, and then by 
tacking them together with small nails, there could 
be no chance for the leakage of water. 

After making a winding trail about two mile 
long I hired the use of ten small pack animals 
called "burros," and in one day the lumber was 
conveyed to the point where we could use it, at 
a cost of even $10.00, and cheap at that price. The 
most difficult part of the work consisted in put- 
ting in the trestle around the cliff so as to give 
the water a fall of exactly five inches to ten feet. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 91 

But I still had the triangle to use for that purpose. 
It was often necessary to moil out a place in the 
rock to put the leg of the trestle. The rock below 
was not a cliff, but it was very precipitous and 
made it dangerous in case the foot was to slip. It 
was essential to be very cautious in every move- 
ment. 

The trestle had to be fastened in some way to 
the cliff, but my new partner in the work was 
always ready to assist me in devising some plan 
to meet every predicament, which would be too 
tedious to mention in detail. Several parties had 
predicted we would make a failure, and there was 
some doubt on my own part, as it was in a measure 
experimental. By leaving off one section of the 
flue near the objective end, so the water could run 
over the rocks below without doing any damage, 
we went up to the iceberg, turned on the water 
and watched results. The flue leaked a little at 
the beginning, but as soon as the lumber got soaked 
with water, even that little ceased. 

We moved camp two miles nearer Georgetown, 
and it seemed like getting back in sight of civili- 
zation. With plenty of cold water fresh from the 
iceberg we began to push the supply ditch which 
lacked still another mile of being on the top comb 
of Leavenworth mountain. It was our usual cus- 
tom to visit the city on Saturday evening and re- 
turn on Sunday evening. During one of these visits 
I met my old friend and former partner, David 
Hersha. 

My eyes were not in the habit of deceiving me, 
so I had to recognize him in spite of his changed 
appearance. He wore a new suit of the latest style 
and fashion, a dangling gold watch chain across his 
vest, a fancy necktie, smooth shaved except a heavy 
gray mustache, and a broad brim hat completed 
his attire. He was too large and too old to pass 
for a cow-boy, so he might be rated from appear- 
ance as a typical well-to-do frontiersman. 

My curiosity led me to inquire of him in regard 



92 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

to all this evidence of prosperity. He seemed a 
little dilatory about telling, but finally said: "Burr 
and myself sold the Dives to John McMurtry for 
$1,000.00 each, and we have been on a "high lone- 
some" ever since. We both tried to get you to 
furnish the powder and grub to sink it ten feet 
deeper for a third interest. We would all three have 
been rich long ago, but I don't blame you in the 
least for no one can tell much about what may 
be below out of sight, and that is why we decided 
to sell. It was my fault we did not get a nice little 
stake out of the King David." All of which was 
quite true. 

By enquiry I learned that parties were then sink- 
ing on the shaft, and the mineral more than paid 
expenses. In fact when the shaft was seventy-five 
feet deep McMurtry had to his credit $20,000.00 
without doing a lick of work. Another shaft a 
hundred and fifty feet east was being sunk with 
about the same results. McMurtry a short time 
after his purchase was elected Probate Judge of 
the county on the Republican ticket, by a majority 
of two votes, but he failed to qualify into the 
office, and in some way it went to his Democratic 
competitor. 

He built a fine $15,000 residence and his parents 
came, either on a visit or to live with him. His 
mother was a sister to Casius M. Clay of Ken- 
tucky, a noted politician and diplomat. His father 
was an able minister in the Episcopal church. I 
heard him preach often and liked his style of ora- 
tory, also his liberal manner of presenting the sub- 
ject. They were pleasant people to meet, social and 
sympathetic in their nature, as the sequel will 
show. 

During the next few months I lost sight of my 
friend Hersha, in fact my own business on the 
mountain absorbed my attention to the exclusion 
of nearly everything else. In due course of time we 
reached the crest of the mountain and after build- 
ing a reservoir commenced the process of making 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 93 

a chasm down the side, directly opposite the side of 
the mountain to the Equator mine. It was over a 
mile down to the creek below, and the road was 
on the opposite side of the creek, so there was no 
danger of damage on that score. The prosperity of 
the country depended upon the discovery and de- 
velopment of paying mines, so many others as 
well as myself were hopeful of good results. 

The trouble of making these cuts has been pre- 
viously explained, but it was even more trouble- 
some here due to the greater depth of debris, which 
had been a barrier to prospectors finding mines, 
that is if there were any there. We could look 
across the ravine and see the dump-piles of the 
Silver Plume, Dives, Terrible and other mines, 
while the Equator, Colorado Central, O. K. and 
other mining property were in another direction 
but equally as near. 

Here was an area of three square miles between 
these prolific mining centers, that had in a manner 
remained untouched. Our business was to uncover 
the bedrock and solve the uncertainty, and then 
abide the consequences whether good or bad. If 
the munificent hand of Nature had failed to put 
veins of mineral in this special part of the earth, 
in order to please one of its toiling children, it 
would be no fault of mine, nor would I even have 
the prerogative of filing a bill of complaint, in case 
of a failure. 

While making this out Judge Harmon of Miss- 
issippi paid us a visit. We went to see the flue, the 
iceberg, and the cuts made the previous year, and 
then came down the mountain in order to see 
a boom pass. The force and grandeur of a swiftly 
moving mass down a steep incline, with the roar- 
ing sound it produces is simply terrific to say the 
least, and beyond my ability to describe. I was an- 
xious for the Judge to see the sight. He was a dif- 
ferent kind of man from Pope — more home-like 
and less aristocratic. On taking his departure he 
spoke very enthusiastically of our enterprise, and 



94 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

said to write him long- letters, and when in need of 
money let him know ; that "sink or swim" he would 
stay with me to the end. 

Would some one be unkind enough to ask if we 
found any mineral? If so, I would have to answer 
in a whisper — "No, not a speck," though we did 
find some good "indications" at a number of places. 
Selecting the best one in appearance we decided to 
prepare for winter work, just as I had one year 
before, but this time not in the range of bears and 
lions. Some poor fellow following a forlorn hope, 
no doubt, had built a cabin which was now vacant, 
so we took possession. Of course we had to visit 
the iceberg and turn off the water. 

Any man likes to see the fruits of his labor in 
whatever vocation he may follow. This is natural 
and commendable. We had a nice comfortable place 
to work. The fissure was well defined, but no valua- 
ble ore in the vein. Perhaps in some future geolo- 
gical age it will bear fruit in the shape of mineral, 
but we could not afford to wait. At a depth of thirty 
or forty feet, surrounded by deep snow, and nearly 
out of rations, we stacked our arms, threw up the 
sponge, and made a safe retreat to the cabin down 
in the city. 

Here we found Mr. Webster with plenty of wood 
and glad to see us. After resting a few days Daniel 
said he would like to work on some of the already 
"ripe" mines bearing fruit. I felt it my duty to go 
with him in the beginning, and knowing the fore- 
man on the Dives asked him to give us a job. He 
said: "I can give you a night shift on the drift 
from the main shaft. We will meet the drift from 
the other shaft in about ten days, then there will 
be a change in the program, and can make no pro- 
mise beyond that time." 

On my part I felt confident that with my know- 
ledge of locating and charging shots, and Daniel's 
brawny arm to strike the drill, we could make a 
showing equal to the best of miners. We could 
easily hear, through the rock, the tapping of the 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 95 

hammer made by the men on the other side, but it 
so happened that the two day shifts made the 
opening. 

More extensive development of the mine required 
sinking of the main shaft a hundred feet deeper, 
and the foreman wanted to put his best men to 
do the work, and Daniel was one of the selected 
men. He didn't know how to get tired and I did, 
perhaps that was the cause of his selection. I had 
noticed that small pieces of ore were frequently 
sent up in the bucket mixed with the fine rock, so 
I made a proposition to assist at the windlass on 
shaft number 2, without pay, if allowed to empty 
the bucket on the edge of the dump, so I could 
pick out the pieces of mineral and keep them as 
my own. 

No one could be damaged a penny by this deal. 
Twice each day I put the ore in a sack under my 
bunk at the boarding house. When filled they 
weighed about a hundred pounds. I filled one sack 
every two days and sometimes a little more. They 
had commenced a back-stope over the drift, which 
meant an increased amount of mineral to my part, 
for they did not know how to save it all like Clark 
and Crow did on the Terrible. Some of the boys 
called the foreman's attention to the "land office 
business" I was doing. He was afraid the company 
would hear that he was not careful in saving the 
mineral, so he decided to put me on the back-stope 
as long as I knew so much about saving mineral, 
but not being an obedient servant I refused to be 
"put." 

The mineral in this mine was worth about 
$700.00 per ton, which means a little over 30 cents 
a pound and I had saved seven sacks in ten or 
eleven days. This little incident shows what "fickle 
fortune" can do for a man taking his chances in 
the mines. Instead of owning a third interest in 
this mine, by a proposition that stood open to me 
for two long years, I was refused the privilege of 
gleaning the buckets of rock as they were emptied 



96 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

over the dump pile. Such is life, and the man that 
kicks hurts no one but himself. The mill man, how- 
ever, paid me $181.00 for the seven sacks of ore, 
and this eased my feelings in a measure for the 
loss of a good paying job, which by rights be- 
longed to me by contract. 

During these ten days while working at the 
windlass an incident occurred worth mention. Bro- 
ther Daniel and his partner were in the main shaft 
then about eighty-five feet deep, when the bucket 
filled with rock had nearly reached the top, from 
some cause the iron crank of the windlass broke, 
and the whole thing fell back in the shaft. It was 
a mystery to me how they escaped, but neither of 
them were hurt. They were standing in opposite 
corners watching the bucket when it started back, 
but a six-foot windlass made it much more dan- 
gerous. 

At that time, just across a depression or small 
gulch, and about three hundred feet west of the 
Dives, parties were working a mine called Pelican. 
While this mine was not so prolific, yet is was a 
paying mine and same character of ore, and a 
strong probability that they were the same vein. 
Attention is called to this fact now in order to un- 
derstand the relations of the two mines when re- 
ferred to further along. The Pelican was discovered 
by a prospector named Stewart, who lived alone in 
a cabin of his own not far from the mine, and it 
goes without saying that we were on the best 
terms of friendship. I would tell how near I came 
to owning a half interest in this mine, but it might 
look as though I were writing fairy tales instead 
of realities. He sold out to a man named McNiff 
and went back to the States, and no doubt did a 
wise thing. 

It had now been six months or more since I 
had seen my old partner Hersha, had been too busy 
to keep track of him. I wanted to tell him about 
working on the Dives and its wonderful produc- 
tion, but he was not on the streets nor could any 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 97 

of his butterfly friends tell me where he w.as. On 
entering his cabin I found him on his rustic bunk, 
without fire or wood to make one. The black dirt 
floor was as innocent of a broom as it well could 
be, and to my mind presented an unhealthy con- 
dition. 

In answering my inquiry, said he did not feel 
well, though perhaps would be up in a day or two ; 
but I knew on taking hold of his hand that he had 
a fever, and told him he must have a doctor and 
further attention. The physician gave instructions 
in regard to the medicine he prescribed, and told 
me privately that he was in a bad fix, though agreed 
that I might bring him a poached egg, a cup of 
coffee or nearly anything he felt like eating. I 
-got Mr. Webster to stay with him most of the 
night. 

Next day in the forenoon I met an elderly lady 
at the door of Hersha's cabin. Two gray curls be- 
decked her massive forehead, and from her dis- 
tinguished appearance she might have been the 
counterpart of Queen Victoria. She asked if this 
was where Mr. Hersha lived, and said she was the 
mother of John McMurtry, that the doctor had told 
her Mr. Hersha needed more comfortable quar- 
ters and special attention. That the object of her 
visit was to request someone, if he was willing, to 
place him in a nice room, with a carpet on it, at 
some boarding house or hotel, and present the bill 
of expense to her. 

At first he refused to make the change, but be- 
fore night he was in a cozy room, and I went to 
see the lady and report what had been done. She 
went with me at once to his new quarters and 
spoke to him very kindly. She directed that two 
men nurses be employed, one for night, and one 
for day, men that could talk cheerfully as well as 
wait on him, and then ordered all bills of expense 
be presented to her for payment. Of course she 
knew he was the original discoverer of the Dives 
mine. With all the care and attention that a man 



98 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

could receive, yet in a short time the spirit of 
David Hersha took its flight across the great di- 
vide, and he was gathered to the land of his fathers. 

Some one has said that Opportunity knocks at 
least one time at every man's door. I am confident 
she knocked at my door not less than a thousand 
times but I never found it out until she had left 
for parts unknown. While dame Fortune is always 
with her, yet it takes courage and quickness of 
thought to say "walk in ladies." Though I discarded 
my chances of ownership in both the Dives and 
Pelican, in some strange way there was left a feel- 
ing of identity in these two mines. They seemed to 
me a part of my mining experience and prospecting 
life in the mountains. This feeling is my excuse 
for telling a few incidents connected with these 
mines before hanging up the receiver on that sub- 
ject. 

The Pelican was recorded a short time before 
the Dives, though the latter was some two years 
previous in point of discovery, due to these facts 
there was talk on both sides of serving injunctions, 
and even a conflict of a more violent character was 
threatened. There was enough mineral in sight to 
make both claimants immensely rich if a peace 
basis could be established. McMurtry did not feel 
any too safe in the legal rights of his valuable 
property, so concluded to use a little of that diplo- 
macy inherited from his uncle Casius Clay. 

It had been decided by the Catholics to build a 
church, and of course it must be finer than any 
other in the city. Arrangements were made to hold 
a fair at the big new hotel, and a gold watch was 
to be given to the most popular young lady, and a 
gold headed cane to the most popular young man. 
Everybody was cordially invited, and a great many 
attended, including myself, for I wanted to see 
how it was done, and also see the excitement. The 
voting was lively enough, though in rather a small 
way until McMurtry picked out one of the girls, 
drew his check for $500.00 and cast that many votes 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 99 

for her. This was a kind of signal gun that a more 
extensive business was about to open. 

The McNiff party soon got together and concen- 
trated on a certain one and then the fun began, 
which would cost some money. The best of good 
feeling and sociability prevailed. They knew that 
McMurtry had a barrel of money, and they began 
to gather round him like he was a hero. They knew 
his father was a minister of the Episcopal church, 
a kind of half-sister to the Catholic, and not much 
difference on that score. 

Voting continued for an hour or two in $500.00 
blocks until McMurtry had spent $3,000.00. Libera- 
lity, however, has its limitation, Mr. McNiff an- 
nounced that the voting on the most popular young 
lady was the one selected by Mr. McMurtry, and 
that he was now requested to make the presenta- 
tion speech, which he did in a very graceful, plea- 
sant manner. He took the occasion during his re- 
marks to allude to the prosperity of the country, 
and suggested that in a measure it depended upon 
the peace and harmony of all the citizens, which, 
by the way, had a very happy effect on all present. 

In a short time, as McMurtry had no opponent 
as the most popular man, the gold-headed cane 
was presented to him in a nice speech made by 
McNiff, in which he said the good of the country 
demanded the enforcement of the law, and as the 
war between the States was now over and peace 
declared, we were also entitled to peace in all our 
business affairs of life. It was the general impres- 
sion, as an aftermath to the fair, that the two Mc's 
got together and agreed that each one would stay 
on his own side of the fence, although a fine sec- 
tion of ore might stand between the two claim- 
ants. 

Discord and confusion had subsided and while 
everything was moving quietly McMurtry formed 
business relations back East. It is a little sin- 
gular that all rich men want to travel toward the 
East, and sometimes still further in that direction. 



100 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

Perhaps they want to find other rich men to asso- 
ciate with, like birds of a feather seeking others 
of the same kind. News soon reached us that he had 
married a niece of Vice President Colfax, and he 
was expected to introduce his bride, to the fascina- 
ting charms of Western civilization. But with an 
income of $50,000.00 per day, Georgetown was only 
an obscure mining village and had lost its former 
attractions. 

In 1868, Gen. Grant, the nominee of the Republi- 
can party for President, along with Gen. Sherman, 
spent a whole week in Georgetown, either resting 
or hiding out from the numerous toadies. They 
were dressed in ordinary citizens' clothes, and if 
much attention was paid to them it was more than 
I could see. This may be one of the reasons why 
they stayed so long. 

During Gen. Grant's candidacy for a second term 
in 1872 he paid us another visit, accompanied by 
his wife and daughter, also other attendants too 
numerous to mention. They came up from Denver 
in carriages, and hours before their arrival three 
or four cannon (blacksmith anvils) gave notice to 
the miners out in the mountains that something 
unusual was happening. As a result some four or 
five thousand people were on the streets to give a 
vociferous welcome to the distinguished party. 
Quite a difference from his former visit ! 

It was the current report, and generally accepted 
as true, that the President owned a tenth interest 
in the Dives, and if so his dividend was not less 
than $5,000.00 per day. The Dives and the Pelican, 
no doubt the same vein, were producing more silver 
by far than any other mine in the whole Mountain 
Range, or even in the world, at that time. It was 
more important, financially, to own a small in- 
terest in a mine of this character than to be Presi- 
dent of the United States. As for honor, Grant 
had all of that commodity he needed. To receive 
the surrender of Gen. Lee, the greatest military 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 101 

chieftain in modern warfare, was honor enough 
for any one man. 

Silver at this time was worth $1.29 per ounce, 
and on par with gold, and both at a premium above 
greenbacks. The free and unlimited coinage of 
both metals, 16 to 1, caused the Government to be 
the principal purchaser. The Treasury Department 
had to build a big rock house in Washington City 
to hold the silver dollars, and before Congress 
could stop the unlimited coinage four hundred mil- 
lion dollars was stacked away in this building. It 
is still there and will be for many years to 
come. The people refused to use it as a circulating 
medium because it was too heavy according to 
value. Yet a man named Bryan made an ass of the 
Democratic party for twelve long years. By a little 
flowery speech of his they were led to advocate 
the unreasonable policy of unlimited coinage of 
silver, which caused their continued defeat. 

About this time, 1872, there were a number of 
mines in this section, perhaps a dozen or more, 
producing a liberal quantity of silver and it was a 
prevailing idea among the miners that the white 
metal would soon be as plentiful as copper if not 
more abundant. Gen. Grant told some of the miners 
in conversation that they held the keys to unlock 
the secret vaults, and from their treasury deposits 
we could pay off the national debt. 

When a big howling crowd called for him in 
front of the hotel he made his appearance on the 
balcony or veranda of the hotel, but no speech. His 
friend, Frank Blair, of Missouri, took his place 
and said a great many nice things for him, but 
nothing that pleased them half so well as the little 
metaphor of their holding the keys of the hidden 
vaults. It is a noted fact that no great military 
leader in either ancient or modern times could 
make a speech before the public ; in fact they are 
not fit for anything else only to arrange men in 
the best possible position so they can kill each 
other. 



102 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

A few more events, of rather a sad character, 
will be mentioned and then I will bid adieu to the 
Dives and Pelican mines. Men that "get rich quick" 
have to see many things all at once as fast as pos- 
sible, in order to talk fluently and knowingly with 
other rich men when they meet them. For this and 
other purposes the Mc's were "over the hills and 
far away." They had left their mining interest in 
the hands of skillful managers. At first there was 
only a spirit of friendly rivalry, but it was followed 
by ill feeling and animosity between the two par- 
ties. 

While traveling in some of the Western States 
McMurtry stopped at some fashionable resort. He 
was very temperate in his habits. On this occasion 
he drank a glass of cold lemonade. As a result in- 
flamation of peritoneum caused his death three days 
later. He was carried back to his Kentucky home 
and buried among, his kindred. He had very few, 
if any, enemies. 

Standing on the street, Saturday evening I saw 
two men riding rapidly down the graded road not 
two hundred yards distant. The one in the rear, 
named Bishop, and manager of the Dives mine, 
was firing his pistol at the one in front, named 
Snyder, and manager of the Pelican. On entering 
the wide door of the livery stable, being much 
nearer each other, a ball pierced his brain and Sny- 
der fell dead on the spot. Bishop reloaded his pistol 
and quietly rode back up the road, no one attempt- 
ing to arrest him. I knew both men well, and was 
one of the jury holding an inquest over the body. 
All work ceased on the mines and in a short time 
they were tied up in litigation. 

After this rather lengthy disgression I will try to 
return to the main subject and take up the thread 
where it was left. It was yet mid-winter and I spent 
part of the ensuing month cultivating the art of 
playing billiards, and enjoying a few of the social 
features of life. It is quite a relief from the toil- 
ing pursuits occasionally to put off the garb of a 



Rocky mountain adventures 103 

miner and change to a nice suit of citizens' cloth- 
ing, especially if money resources give one a fel- 
ing of easiness. A change came over the "spirit of 
my dreams" and I began to realize it might require 
many years to reach the object I had in view. My 
idea of the two words "money-plenty" meant not 
less than a million dollars with still more in sight, 
rather visionary ideas, no doubt of that. 

For some adequate cause Daniel quit his job and 
resting a few days, bought a half interest in the 
King David mine at a public sale of the property, 
paying only a nominal price. Being equal owners, 
we at once commenced a cross-cut or tunnel, to 
strike the vein a hundred feet deep and about a hun- 
dred and fifty feet west of the shaft which was fifty 
feet deep. In a few days we were out of the weather 
and had a nice place to work. We moved part of 
our effects up to a house owned and occupied by 
Dr. Guthrie, and only a short distance below our 
tunnel. 

In a social way I had known the Doctor and his 
partner Ulhorn for over a year. They were both 
highly educated. Their parents had given them 
$2,000.00 each, no doubt with a hope they would 
lead brilliant careers, one as a doctor the other as 
a lawyer. They came to Georgetown, spent part of 
their effects in purchasing a mine called Alhambra, 
about a thousand feet west of the King David. At 
first they took out some mineral that paid expen- 
ses, but like many other mines it soon played out. 
Spending the balance of their means in a vain 
effort of restoring it to life, they continued to work 
themselves. 

Too proud to write home for money, the Doctor 
answered professional calls, which kept them in 
supplies, often leaving his partner in the mine to 
work by himself. Returning home one day to his 
sorrow and surprise he found Ulhorn dead in the 
bottom of the shaft. The supposition was that his 
foot slipped in climbing the ladder, but the Doctor 
intimated that a certain man may have knocked 



104 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

him in the head just as he reached the top of the 
shaft, which was nearly a hundred feet deep. I 
mention this little episode which shows that others 
as well as myself had a hard time contending with 
the uncertainties of mining ventures. I could men- 
tion the names of half dozen men with diplomas 
from some college who in the garb of miners were 
trying to obta'in the favors of Fickle Fortune. 

About the middle of April 1871, entirely un- 
expected, our brother Shep made his appearance. 
The Doctor had accumulated a little surplus and 
hired Daniel to work with him on his mine, and 
Daniel in turn hired Shep to work with me. In 
less than a week after leaving home he was strik- 
ing a drill with an eight-pound hammer, but he 
was a chip off the same block and proved him- 
self equal to the occasion. Fortunately we found a 
"muck seam" leading in the same direction of the 
tunnel. It was a feeder or spur from the King 
David. By removing the soft material with a pick 
we could locate the shots, so they would do twice 
as much work as they would have done without 
the seam. 

It was nearly time to commence work on the 
top of Leavenworth mountain for the snow dis- 
appears, even from this crested point, fully a month 
earlier than up around the iceberg. We suspended 
work on the tunnel after a week or ten days and 
in a short time began building reservoirs and 
making ready to use the water as soon as it could 
be turned into the supply ditch. It was my inten- 
tion this year to either "make a spoon or spoil a 
horn." I had located the previous year places to 
make six more cuts on that side of the mountain, 
and was anxious to complete the work during the 
ensuing season. 

In a month we had three reservoirs about com- 
pleted. Digging the ditch was hard enough work 
to suit the brawny muscles of any man, but the 
two or three days required in tracing the water to 
start the boom tested my endurance and patience 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 105 

more than anything else encountered, except driv- 
ing ten oxen in a drifting sand storm on the desert. 
It generally required a week or ten days to make 
one of these long cuts but the labor was over 
after the first two or three days as there was 
nothing to do only to raise the gate when the re- 
servoir was full, which was about once every 
hour. 

The water was kept busy all the time. As fast 
as one cut was finished another reservoir was 
ready. There were barely four months of the year 
that water was available for our purposes, and we 
could not afford to take much time to dig and de- 
velop the various "indications" we saw in the 
different cuts, which could be done later just as 
well. I was anxious to find a big rich mine sticking 
up through the bed rock, but this was only a vi- 
sionary wish not to be realized; in fact my luck 
was not built that way. 

We had deferred making the last cut on purpose. 
I knew from the lay of the ground that it would 
be a deep one and perhaps cause some damage to 
certain property on the creek below, though it 
might not. Anticipating extra work, we built a 
much larger reservoir than the others. We turned 
in all the water the iceberg produced as it was 
growing late in the season, yet it required over 
two hours to fill ready to turn loose. The debris of 
this particular place was composed mostly of sand 
and boulders, more so than at other places. 

The indigenous rock of the country is granite, 
and this is the case up to the top of the range or 
continental divide. I have been on or near this 
range for three or four hundred miles, and the 
same kind of rocks exist all along. I had noticed 
in the different cuts that sand and boulders reached 
a certain altitude and there was none above that 
point, which indicates that they were deposited 
there during some great glacial period. But the 
question might be asked, where did they come 
from? Possibly this great mountain range was 



106 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

once much higher, and from these heights were 
sent both sand and glacier. 

This last "boom" of that season was a record 
breaker in more respects than one, as it caused 
some trouble from damage, and in turn gave rise 
to a small future profit, which I will tell about fur- 
ther along. In the first place it was much easier 
to get under head-way than others had been. We 
moved our tent down to the reservoir, and at night 
built up a good fire so as to raise the gate both 
day and night, and even then it required a whole 
week to sweep out to the bed rock. 

When the water was turned loose it quickly 
mixed with sand, gravel and boulders some of them 
as large as a hogshead, and produced a scene of 
terrific grandeur beyond my power of description. 
This volume of moving slush-like material in a 
channel down the side of a mountain meant de- 
struction to everything in its way. Trees as big as 
a man's body falling in the chasm were torn into 
fragments by the time they reached the foot of the 
mountain. It caused a roaring sound like distant 
thunder, and people from the city came out on the 
road opposite the creek to see the sight. The depth 
of the cut depended upon the distance to the bed- 
rock. In places it was forty feet deep and a hun- 
dred feet wide. 

From the beginning I had known it was dan- 
gerous to enter these cuts, but we were anxious to 
find out the results of our labor. Toward the foot 
of the mountain we found uncovered an unusual 
large "indication" that might be a big mine when 
developed, so we spent two or three hours with 
pick and shovel expecting to return in a few days. 
When nearly at the top of the cut, being a little 
in front of Shep, I noticed the bank was crumbling 
under a large boulder, in fact it was already mov- 
ing. I shouted to him vigorously to look out. He 
leaped up against the side of the bank and during 
this nick of time the boulder passed under instead 
of over him, indeed a very great difference. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 107 

The creek was about a hundred yards from the 
foot of the mountain with a gradual sloping of the 
ground, yet the boulders came down with such 
force that they bounded across the space and filled 
the creek, along with sand and gravel to a depth 
of five or six feet, which unfortunately drowned a 
turbine wheel that furnished the power to run a 
big quartz mill. Of course this had to be removed 
or the mill would be of no further service. It was 
not my intention to dodge or evade the conse- 
quences, so I went to see the owner of the mill. At 
first he was very indignant, and was going to bring 
suit for damage. I let him talk all he wished, know- 
ing one man can't quarrel by himself very long. 

When the wrath was removed from his system 
so he could talk business I said to him : "General, 
I regret very much the damage to your property, 
but you can't make anything out of me by bring- 
ing suit, simply because I have nothing in the 
world except a dozen or more "indications", which 
it would be improper to call mines, located on the 
mountain above your mill. Each might contain one 
of the golden eggs that the traditional goose laid, 
but as yet they are only granite rocks and of no 
value. If you will furnish me with $300.00 I will 
hire men and remove those boulders and pay you 
back two dollars for one out of the first ore I deli- 
ver to your mill." 

To this proposition, and much more that was 
said, he answered by saying: "Young man there is 
a good deal of the rainbow hue in your talk, but 
you seem to be willing to do the fair thing, so I am 
going to give you a chance, though I want to say at 
the outset, in my opinion, it will take more money 
than you think, even if it can be done at all." He 
went with me to the bank and placed to my credit 
$300.00 to be used for that purpose. This was 
Friday and the next day I went among the labor- 
ing class and by an offer of $5.00 per day selected 
six men to help me do the work. 

On going to a blacksmith and telling him what I 



108 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

wanted to do he made me two grappling hooks 
with handles five feet long so as to give leverage 
power, also five crowbars of the same length. We 
bought seven pairs of rubber boots that fastened 
with a belt around the waist. On Monday morning 
we commenced the work which was a big job, no 
doubt, but it looked bigger than it really was. The 
plan adopted was to make the water help do the 
work as much as possible, and to do this the water 
was reduced to a smaller channel. The bed of the 
creek was solid rock, and sometimes three or four 
boulders would be moving down the creek at the 
same time, followed up by as many men with their 
crowbars to keep them moving. 

In a measure it was like fun, though hard work 
and in the cold water all the time. The owner of 
the mill passed by nearly every day to look at the 
work but said nothing. His idea was to rig up a 
derrick run by a steam engine, but to do it that 
way might cost several thousand dollars. On the 
afternoon of the fourth day the turbine wheel was 
ready to do its usual work. I had paid $50.00 for 
the rubber boots, but in paying off the men I made 
them a present of the boots. I drew the mill owner 
a check for the balance yet in the bank to my credit 
charging nothing for my own labor. 

It might be said that this was one way of settling 
a lawsuit, and many others might be settled in 
the same way by using a few sober thoughts in 
the beginning. I fully expected some day before 
long to pay back the money as promised. It has 
been my effort not to give too much space to events 
of this character, and with this object in view have 
left out most of the details, yet they are inter- 
woven with the many tribulations of my moun- 
tain life to such an extent that at least a few of 
them ought to be mentioned. 

Spending a few days in Georgetown, in order to 
catch my breath before renewing my investigation 
of discoveries in the various cuts, I was forcibly 
reminded that the summer season was over. Less 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 109 

than a half mile up the mountain on each side of 
the city a rather spectacular view presented itself. 
Looking out one morning the snow three or four 
inches deep could be seen down to a certain alti- 
tude, and below that line the conditions of summer 
tended up and down the valley as far as the eyes 
still prevailed. These two horizontal snow lines ex- 
could see. This was one way old Borreas had of 
sending his signal that the country belonged to him 
for the next eight months. Quite likely a foot of 
snow was around the iceberg at this time, but for- 
tunately the water was turned off. 

To our great surprise and delight Daniel returned 
from the Stephens mine where he had been work- 
ing for the past several months. This property is 
located immediately under the apex of the Gray's 
Peak which by measurement is fifty feet higher 
than Pikes' Peak, and perhaps one of the highest 
silver mines in the world, being 14,000 feet in alti- 
tude. They had been paying him $5.00 per day and 
board, for none but the best miners were wanted, 
and those aclimated to a light atmosphere were 
the only ones that could stand the hardships and 
do good work. They were drifting on the vein, 
taking out some nice mineral, and gaining a foot 
in depth from the surface above, for every foot 
advanced on the drift. 

At the breast of the drift, between four or five 
hundred feet from its entrance, there was a kind 
of frozen dirt with some ice in it resembling hard- 
pan, and possibly containing sand and gravel. In 
order to reach the mine a much nearer way from 
the boarding house, they held on to a rope around 
a big high cliff. If there had been no other silver 
in the world only in this mine, and it devolved upon 
me to get it out, the supply of white metal would 
have been completely cut off. But some men can 
do with ease things dangerous to others. 

The most astonishing thing of all was the an- 
nouncement made by Shep that he had seen enough 
of the Rocky Mountains and intended to return 



110 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

to his native home. In making a calculation he 
would be able to go back and have $100.00 more 
than he left with. Neither of us presumed to give 
him advice one way or the other. There was an ele- 
ment of risk and uncertainty connected with every 
venture in this country, so we thought it best to 
leave each one free to decide for himself, and there 
would be no one to blame for any bad results. 

As we wanted to rest awhile before commencing 
work again on our tunnel to strike the King David 
I concluded to learn how to make an assay to de- 
termine the value of metal which had been my in- 
tention for some time. I had been talking with a 
man named Nichol who was willing to teach me 
and also allow me the use of his furnace, for $10.00. 
It may be a little tedious to tell the process but 
it is worth knowing, and a thing every prospector 
ought to know. There is no way of finding out 
what a piece of mineral contains only by a crucial 
test. 

An assay furnace is made of fireclay and about 
the size and shape of a twenty-gallon keg, and is 
usually kept at the same heat about two hours in 
order to complete the assay, though several may 
be made at the same time. It requires careful ma- 
nipulation to make an accurate fire test that will 
show exactly how many ounces of silver there are 
in a ton of ore, or any given quantity of ore. The 
point of a pen knife will hold enough of the pul- 
verized sample, which is placed in the polished 
scoop of scales so nicely adjusted that a pencil 
mark on a piece of paper will put them out of 
balance. The exact weight of this small sample is 
carefully noted for it forms the basis of a future 
calculation as to value of the ore. 

After adding to this sample three times as much 
triturated lead and the same amount of borax, wrap 
all three of them in a piece of tissue paper, and 
then with a pair of tongs put the cupel containing 
the sample in the red hot furnace. Half an hour 
later take out the cupel, and remove the substance 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 111 

with a pair of tweezers, and tap it lightly with a 
small hammer on a smooth substance and the slag 
will fly off like a piece of glass, leaving the lead 
and silver, if there is any silver. 

Then place this lead button in a bone-ash cupel 
and put it back in the furnace for about an hour, 
and if there is any silver a bright metalic flash over 
the little button will indicate that the lead is gone 
and only the silver remains, the lead being vola- 
tilized by the air and absorbed by the bone-ash. 
If the sample is from low grade mineral the button 
will be hard to handle, yet it can be weighed and 
the value of the ore determined 

Accuracy in weighing, manipulating and calcu- 
lation were essential to a correct assay, but to be 
an expert required practice. During my week of 
scholarship perhaps I made forty assays and felt 
myself as able as any one to do the work. In order 
to make this information available to me as a 
prospector it was necessary to substitute the "blow- 
pipe" in place of the furnace. This little instrument 
consisted of a brass tube a foot long with an ivory 
mouthpiece and a two-inch crook at the other end, 
tipped with platinum, which could be bought for 
$3.00 and a cheaper one for a third that price. 

A blowpipe assay can be made in less than ten 
minutes by preparing the sample just the same as 
used in the furnace. The platinum tip is put in the 
blaze of an ordinary candle above the end of the 
wick, and the entire flame is diverted, terminating 
in a blue point, which must be kept in touch with 
the sample. By inflating the cheeks and breathing 
through the nose it is easy, after a little practice, to 
keep a constant current of air pasing through the 
tube. It is said the end of this blue blaze contains 
the most intense heat that can be produced by any 
known process. I obtained a graded scale marked 
on a strip of ivory showing by measurements the 
value of assay buttons per ton of ore. By using 
this scale an approximate value of a piece of ore 



112 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

could be obtained, which was good enough in a 
general way for a prospector. 

The process by which the mill man obtains a little 
dust that will lay on the point of a knife which 
establishes the value of a ton, or any other amount, 
of ore, might be interesting if it were not too te- 
dious to tell. How it is done is important, if not 
interesting to the purchaser, as well as owner, as it 
involves a matter of money which represents labor. 
A man presents a bale of cotton on the market; 
it is sampled and paid for according to grade and 
quantity. In the same way one with a small quan- 
tity of ore, say less than a ton can deliver it at a 
mill and get his check in less than three hours. In 
a large producing mine, the owner can contract 
with the mill man to treat his ore at so much per 
ton, and then the bullion will belong to him. 

I might mention before leaving the subject that 
the three ingredients for making an assay, including 
the bone ash, and mold for making the cupel, would 
weigh less than two pounds, and enough to make 
a hundred assays or more. This is one of the first 
things I ought to have learned as a prospector. 
Searching for something and not knowing when 
it is found is like playing blind-man's-bluff, all 
guess work after found. 

It is now about time for another chapter so I 
will hang up the receiver and tell "central" to give 
me a different number. 



CHAPTER V 

LEASE ON SUMMIT MINE. WORKED ON A MINE 

DISCOVERED BY A MINERAL BOB. WORK ON 

TUNNEL. A CASE OF LUNG FEVER. THE BIG 

PULASKA MINE. VISITED A DANCE HOUSE. 

DISCOVERED R. E. LEE AND OTHER MINES. 

SOLD SHELTON TUNNEL. DECIDED TO 

LEAVE THE COUNTRY. SELLING THE 

PULASKA. A NEW ENTERPRISE ON 

TAP. 

Not even the inspiration of a new chapter can 
change the old song which has for its refrain "get 
rich," though the word "quick" is left out, as a 
known failure. The accumulation of a competency 
in life, or even a fortune so to speak, is a laudable 
ambition and is the first step that leads out of 
poverty's vale. An inordinate desire for wealth, 
however, if prompted by the alluring pursuits of 
pleasure, often causes some people to disregard 
the rights and possessions of others. When honesty 
is cast aside for the sake of wealth, the material 
left will make a bandit and a thief. 

During the time we were taking the boulders 
out of the creek one of the men, Dick Simmons, 
a Cornishman, told me that on a contract he sunk 
a shaft on the Summit mine a hundred feet deep, 
and it had to be timbered all the way to the bot- 
tom. This work was done in the first part of 1867, 
a while before my arrival in Georgetown. Accord- 
ing to his statement the rich "sulphurett" was worth 
$1.00 per pound, the richest mine ever discovered 
in the Rocky Mountain range, but the stuff was 
found in pockets and scattered through the shaly 
rock making it hard to save, in fact he didn't make 
much effort to save it. 



114 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

The mine was bought by J. B. Chaffee, a rich 
banker of Denver, who was also one of the dele- 
gates in Congress representing the territory. He 
expected that the mineral vein would become solid 
at a hundred feet or less, so with other business of 
importance, gave out the contract and then paid 
very little attention to it, waiting for results. At 
the depth of forty feet the pitch of the vein caused 
them to leave it on the outside of the shaft, it 
being easier to timber straight down than to follow 
the mine. Of course this was an injustice to the 
owner, and almost equivalent to robbery. 

His propositon was to obtain a lease from Mr. 
Chaffee for three months and after that to pay 
him a royalty. Dick did not want his name used in 
the lease, nor did he want anything said about his 
leaving the vein at forty feet. As Mr. Pope, my 
partner, was a friend of Mr. Chaffee, he drew up a 
lease and sent it to Washington City, which was 
returned properly signed by the time I was through 
learning to make assays. On Monday morning Dick 
was ready and we hit the old trail, loaded down 
to the guard with tools, blankets and supplies to 
last a whole week. It is amazing the amount a man 
can carry on his back, through the snow and up a 
mountain, when he decides to do so. 

We found a nice cabin with a floor in it, and a 
fairly good cook stove and everything as Dick said 
he left them four and a half years before. We were 
afraid to risk the safety of the old windlass so 
Dick tied a loop in one end of a rope we brought 
with us and fastened the other end to one of the 
timbers around the shaft. Wrapping the rope 
around one leg he slid off down the shaft with a 
hundred feet between him and the bottom. He put 
one foot in the loop, and with another smaller rope 
I lowered to him pieces of timber the right length 
and size to drive between the timbers of the shaft. 
In a short time he had a good platform to stand 
on. 

With saw and hatchet he cut out four of the shaft 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 115 

timbers, the lower one fifty feet below the top. By- 
doing this it would expose more of the ore vein. 
While he was doing this I cut pieces of the right 
size and length and put them in between the 
timbers, down one end of the shaft, form- 
ing a ladder way so as to get in and out of 
the mine without being forced to climb the rope. 
We found two or three old tin buckets, and in these 
Dick saved the "sulphurett" ore, some of it fine 
as flour. In the process of saving he had to include 
a good deal of the shaly rock, and part of my busi- 
ness was to spread it out on a table for careful 
separation. A lot of the ore was sticking to the 
rock like melted beeswax, and had to be scraped 
off with a knife or a chisel. 

Several pipe assays, by measurement, showed the 
ore to be worth close to $1.00 per pound. As the 
snow on the trail was too deep to use a pack animal 
the only alternative was for each of us to carry 
about forty pounds of it on our shoulders. Consi- 
dering its value, and being down grade all the way, 
this work was no worse than moving boulders out 
of the creek. We continued the work until Friday 
morning of the third week, when during the pre- 
vious night the whole thing fell in, so we had to 
hang up the "fiddle." 

It had been my usual custom to peep in two or 
three times each day and watch Dick working in 
his "gopher" hole. He was a first class miner and 
was so rated, having followed the occupation back 
in Cornwall, England, from the time he was ten 
years of age. Part of the time I might have helped 
him take out some of the ore, as he was drifting 
both ways on the vein, but I thought it too dan- 
gerous without putting in timber, and told him so, 
but it is every man's business to use his own judg- 
ment. 

No doubt a lot of money might have been made 
by working the mine in a careful systematic way. 
Dick's hands were large and clumsy and he didn't 
save more than half the mineral, but I could not 



116 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

afford to tell him so, as he was doing the risky 
part of the work The beauty of the whole thing 
was in the wind-up when the mill man gave his 
check for $220.00, nearly $40.00 a week for our 
work, and on my part not hard work either. 

While staying on the summit point which is in 
plain view of Georgetown, I must not forget to 
mention that I saw my first and only flock of Rocky 
Mountain sheep. It seems they range along on 
points where the wind blows away the snow and 
leaves the ground bare, or nearly so. At first they 
were about sixty yards distant and moving slowly. 
Some four or five of them were wearing their horns, 
perhaps for my benefit. It is said the horns are 
about a quarter the size of the sheep, but it 
looked to me like they were half the size. 

An occasional "wind-fall" helps to keep a man's 
bank account in good shape, and has a tendency to 
inspire a safe feeling. Since the death of Hersha I 
had decided to keep enough money on hand to be 
used in case of an accident, or any other emer- 
gency. After a vacation from work for one month 
Daniel was ready to enter the conflict. We had 
about decided to resume work on our tunnel when 
a new field of uncertainty presented itself. 

Our old friend Webster still occupied part of the 
cabin. His resources consisted in owning a placer 
mining claim somewhere down the creek which he 
worked about two weeks each year, the balance 
of the time there was not enough water for sluicing 
purposes. Some years he took out more than others 
yet always enough to keep him up by using eco- 
nomy. I have in my possession one of the gold pel- 
lets he made, worth about $5.00, formed by press- 
ing the quicksilver through a piece of buckskin, 
which shows the grain of the skin on the surface 
of the pellet. It is not for sale at present. 

One of the peculiarities of the old man was the 
unbounded confidence he had in his power of lo- 
cating a mine by the use of a mineral bob. We 
both knew that father once sent for a man who 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 117 

with a forked limb told him just where to dig, and 
the number of feet before striking- water, and it 
turned out exactly as he said it would, but that 
might have been an accident. As for my own part 
I was willing to give any man's ideas on anything, 
however unreasonable they might be, a fair trial be- 
fore condemning them. If I had been present on 
the ground and had seen Elijah step in his fiery 
chariot and fly away into the upper deep, I would 
have accepted it as true, but I was not there, which 
makes a difference, and requires a good deal of 
salt, and then some more, to make it go. 

The mineral bob he used was made of a cartridge 
shell partly filled with amalgam and two pieces of 
whalebone stuck into it and fastened there by a 
wooden peg between them. He held these whale- 
bones in his hands in such a way that the bob stood 
out before him, and in crossing a vein of mineral 
the bob dipped down, either toward or from him, 
without any volition on his part, that is he said it 
did. I found it would bob over in my hand by moving 
the muscles very little. As the bob always went 
down at a certain place, I asked him to move slowly 
so I might see and detect any movement of his 
fingers or wrist, but with all my care and scrutiny 
I failed to detect any motion or pressure. 

Neither of us had much confidence in his wizard 
ability to control the laws of gravitation. He had 
a kind of vague theory that his nervous system 
acting as a battery caused an electric current be- 
tween the bob and the mineral below. On my own 
part I realized that it was not a question of con- 
fidence or belief, but one involving truth and false- 
hood, whichever it might be. There was only one 
way of settling the matter and that was by giving 
it a fair and impartial trial, and this we decided to 
do. If it proved true it would be far better than 
running boom ditches, if false it would only be 
time lost. 

Next morning we struck out, it seemed to me, 
like the "blind following the blind." It was now 



118 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

mid-winter and lots of snow, but we cared little 
more for this than walking over plowed ground, 
unless it was over waist deep. The high winds 
generally formed a crust strong enough to bear 
one's weight. Webster told us before starting he 
had several places in mind where by digging we 
would find a good body of mineral, but could not 
tell how far to it, or how rich in silver it might be. 
That he could tell as to quantity but not quality. 

By following the road up the left branch of 
the creek we passed where Mr. Glenn, a man about 
60 years of age was working in a tunnel by himself. 
He was using a 5-8 drill and doing his own striking 
with a four-pound hammer. He was an old Cali- 
fornia miner, leading a kind of hermit life in a 
cabin by himself. I will have more to say of him 
further along. After leaving the tunnel Webster 
remarked that he was prospecting for one of his 
locations. I had known the old man Glenn for some 
time and in talking with him he said he was trying 
to strike an extension of the Equator, which was 
about a quarter mile further west. 

Passing this mine about two or three hundred 
feet, and then up the mountain not at all steep, 
about the same distance, Webster produced his bob 
and began gyrating around and located several 
places in line with each other, and said by digging 
at any of these places we would find a large body of 
mineral. The snow was two or three feet deep, and 
timber would be hard to get in case we were forced 
to use it. This and other reasons caused us to move 
to another place much nearer town, though higher 
on the mountain, where as he said the bob worked 
equally as well, and we would have plenty of tim- 
ber. 

If there is not a "gray eyed" destiny in the af- 
fairs of men there is something else very close kin 
to it, as the sequel will show when the proper time 
comes to mention it in the regular routine of 
events. We had every "mineral bob" assurance that 
the place selected had prolific deposits of a metalic 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 110 

character. After shoveling away the snow for 
twenty feet around we marked off a 5x8 shaft and 
commenced throwing dirt. On the third day at a 
depth of four or five feet we passed through the 
hardpan formation and struck into a fine species 
of "indication" or "flow" from a mine. This was 
very encouraging and gave us exhuberant feelings, 
for awhile at least. 

That night in telling Webster of our luck, we 
also told him while there was no contract to that 
effect, yet we were willing to give him a third in- 
terest and name it "Webster," and give him credit 
for its discovery. It seemed to put new life in the 
old man, turning back the dial of time ten or fifteen 
years. Next morning he had breakfast prepared for 
all three of us before daylight, also a lunch for din- 
ner. He was not a .lazy man but seemed to have no 
energy, which may account for the reason why he 
did not follow up with pick and shovel as directed 
by his mineral bob, as he had so much confidence 
in it. 

While two worked in a shaft the other one got 
out timber to rig up a windlass which we would 
need in a short time. At the tepth of twelve or 
fifteen feet the "lead" was between well defined 
foot and hanging walls, with a pitch of about 
twenty degrees from a perpendicular, which was 
often the case as very few mines went straight 
down. This in principle was against Webster's idea 
for his bob told him to continue in a direct line, 
however he was willing to follow the vein as the 
most sensible thing to do. 

The hanging wall was smooth and solid and 
looked like it had just received a fresh coat of white 
paint. When down twenty-five feet we noticed the 
powder smoke hung unusually long, which caused 
us to think there might be some foul air, nor did 
the candles burn with their usual brightness. In- 
stead of getting better the conditions grew worse. 
We put up near the shaft a sheet-iron stove with 
two pipes attached, one of them leading down into 



120 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

the shaft. A brisk fire soon restored normal condi- 
tions but did not remove the cause, so it was neces- 
sary to keep up the fire nearly all the time. 

At the depth of thirty-five or forty feet the me- 
phitic air was more difficult to control, nor had we 
yet found any mineral. Possibly, and in all proba- 
bility the real mine was less than one inch from us 
behind the white, sleek wall. I will mention later 
my reasons for this conclusion. For these and 
maybe other reasons we decided to suspend work 
and try something else. It was not fully proven one 
way or the other whether Webster could discover 
a mine with his mineral bob or not. The way the 
thing stood it was about an even break both ways, 
with some little difference in his favor. 

Finding a vacant house near our tunnel we took 
possession, but the house was none the worse off 
because we could not find the owner. Pealing the 
bark off my knuckles one day while rolling the 
wheelbarrow caused us to hire a carpenter to make 
and put in a car, with track complete, which cost 
$30.00. It held four or five times as much as the 
wheelbarrow and could be pushed along with one 
hand, and was self dumping by simply moving a 
latch. 

We had a nice place to work and were making 
fine progress but in spite of all these favorable con- 
ditions I took the lung fever, the only spell of sick- 
ness during my nine years in the mountains. The 
neighbors were very kind to me, and under treat- 
ment of a doctor I was restored to health in about 
two months. Daniel had made some progress in the 
tunnel with a 5-8 drill and dynamite, during my 
convalescence. The snow had nearly all disappeared 
and it was time to look after "indications" on 
Leavenworth Mountain. 

In a few days we found three men in a hole al- 
ready ten feet deep, and they were taking out quite 
a lot of mineral. I pointed out to them that they 
were guided by my discovery in the boom ditch, 
and for this reason would ask them to discontinue 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 121 

their work, and also to abandon all rights to the 
property. This they very positively declined to do, 
but fighting was not my way of settling a dispute 
of any kind unless forced as a last resort. I saw my 
partner Pope, and through him commenced some 
kind of ejectment suit which brought them in 
court. 

In a private way Pope explained to me that we 
might lose the case before either judge or jury on 
the grounds of neglecting our rights too long; that 
some points of law were against us. I was well 
acquainted with one of the parties and concluded 
to have a talk with him, and also his partners. In 
this conference I suggested that as prospectors we 
could not afford to spend money in a lawsuit. If the 
mine should prove valuable it was big enough to 
make us all rich. That each party had vested legal 
rights, and speaking for my company, we were will- 
ing for them to own the east end of the mine com- 
mencing at the ditch and including their discovery, 
while we would take the west end. 

They readily accepted this proposition and the 
mine was recorded that way under the name of 
"Pulaska." After a few weeks they quit work, but 
said nothing about the cause. We went about two 
hundred feet west and made a cross-cut showing 
the ore vein to be six or seven feet across at a 
depth of twenty-five feet. This was decidedly the 
largest mine ever discovered in that section of 
the country, the ore consisting of galena and py- 
rites. In crossing the vein which required several 
days, I made two or three pipe assays every day 
with the uniform results of very little if any silver. 
For fear my assays might not be correct I took a 
good sample and made a furnace test with the same 
results. 

There was nothing left for us to do only to quit, 
as the other parties had done. From there we went 
on top of the mountain and built a reservoir in- 
tending to make a cut some five hundred feet west 
of the Equator. When we were in fairly a good 



122 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

headway an injunction was served against us on 
the plea that travel on the road would be stopped 
for several months and maybe for all time. I had 
this cut in view before making those on the other 
side of the mountain the year before, but antici- 
pated there might be trouble. As there was no 
way to compromise the matter, we simply quit the 
drive. 

It is not my intention to tell about troubles and 
misfortunes, but the events in the life of an ordi- 
nary man are in constant touch with these stalk- 
ing spectres so that it is necessary to mention one 
in order to tell about the other. If I was writing a 
romance the hero would not be allowed to do a 
single day's hard work, and every mine he discov- 
ered would be worth a million dollars. This coun- 
try produced a few heroes after a fashion, which 
will be mentioned in due time, but without any ex- 
ception they had to climb many high hills before 
they reached the heroic part of their career. 

With some limitations old man Glenn possessed 
heroic qualities. A few pages back we left him in 
a tunnel, all alone, removing the ribs of rock be- 
tween him and a supposed vein of mineral. After 
hammering six long months he reached the coveted 
prize, but found the mineral too poor in silver to 
pay its way through the mill. Perhaps a fourth of 
the mines in the country were of this character. 
As a prospector he had been "short" on the lucky 
side for over twenty years. He simply "picked 
his flint" after this failure and commenced digging 
at the very spot, near the Equator, where Webster 
first told us there was a big deposit of mineral 
below. 

There was some kind of an arrangement between 
Glenn and the owner of a saloon and billiard hall. 
His name was "Tobe", though doubtless he had 
some other name, yet I never heard it. He was very 
reticent, but quite popular with the miners and 
prospectors. When they got "stuck" for the game 
and had no money he would say "all right, come 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 123 

again." He furnished Glenn with all his supplies 
of every character, but could not trust him with 
a jug or bottle of liquor. Glenn knew his failing 
and submitted to an allowance. 

Every morning before breakfast he walked nearly 
two miles and back to get his goblet of liquor, 
holding a third of a pint. When the day's work was 
over this was repeated, no matter how cold or how 
deep the snow. He was digging this hole in the 
ground at the time we were stopped from making 
the cut previously referred to, which would have 
mised him about two hundred feet. There was no 
indication of any mine whatever where he was dig- 
ging, nothing but dirt and gravel known as hard- 
pan. He filled a bucket with this stuff and then 
climbed a ladder and pulled it up with a windlass, 
doing all the work himself. 

During the summer, at the depth of thirty-five 
or forty feet he broke through this compact dirt 
and "mirabile dictu" the dream of his life was 
beneath his feet. Two feet of solid mineral worth 
$700.00 per ton, one of the richest mines consider- 
ing its size ever discovered in that mining region. 
If we had been allowed to finish our last cut we 
would have beat him to it at least thirty days, but 
it seems the irony of fate was against us. Of course 
there was great rejoicing in the house of Tobe and 
Glenn, and no doubt the old man was given an 
extra goblet of liquor. 

The mine was recorded under the name "Colo- 
rado Central." Very little was said and perhaps very 
little known of the very singular manner of its 
discovery. It seems results are about the only thing 
interesting to people in a general way. No doubt 
our old friend Webster deserved credit for locating 
the mine, though Glenn would not accept it as a 
fact. It seems unreasonable that a man of his age 
and experience in mining would dig just anywhere 
for mineral without some kind of a pointer. In the 
meantime Webster had sold out his placer claim 



124 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

and left for parts unknown and there was no way 
of proving the fact. 

As a sequel to this great discovery, Glenn with 
a few thousand dollars, left to visit his old friends 
back in California, and it is almost needless to say 
was never heard of any more. I had heard the old 
man tell of his adventures out further West in his 
younger days. However before leaving he gave 
Tobe written authority to manage and own the 
mine in his absence. In a short time Tobe sold his 
saloon, and in less than a year was a very wealthy 
man, and like others that got rich quick he went 
back East to spend his money. 

It is said, and with much truth it may be, that 
the beneficent hand of Nature makes nothing in 
vain or without a purpose. According to wise plans 
of Creation this great system of mountains ten 
thousand miles in length must have been designed 
to contain veins of different kinds of mineral, other- 
wise their formation would have been without a 
purpose. Advancing civilization caused a greater 
demand for these minerals and a great army of 
men were enduring hardships and privations in 
order to find their hidden vaults. My career in life 
for the time was devoted to pursuit of these treas- 
ures. 

Several miles of bedrock had been exposed for 
this specific purpose. These veins above referred 
to, which in some mysterious way penetrate the 
ribs of granite rock, chimney out at certain places 
forming what is termed in mining parlance "crop- 
pings" of a mine. But they are very treacherous 
and misleading. A fine "indication" often, very 
often, proves to be a false blossom with no fruit 
to follow, while a poor one might with a little de- 
velopment show up a valuable mine as the case 
with the Dives. Due to these facts we ought to exa- 
mine nearly every foot of exposed bedrock. 

Not being able or allowed to finish what we con- 
sidered one of our most important cuts near the 
Equator we commenced exploring the cuts on the 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 125 

other side already made. We dug out numerous 
holes in the rocks, ran open cuts where the moun- 
tain was steepest, in fact did lots of work worthy 
of a better cause, but with the same invariable re- 
sults, nothing doing. Four of the cuts had been 
examined, two yet remaining, but as it was sur- 
face work and the winter snow made its appear- 
ance we struck camp, moved back into the same 
house, and resumed work on our tunnel which we 
left about six months previous. 

Silver Plume consisted of eight or ten houses 
at this time, and others in process of construction. 
The citizens thought this little house belonged to 
us, as no one else claimed it. We knew better, but 
said nothing. No one ever did claim it, as far as I 
know. In order to keep up the connecting links of 
my narrative I will mention that this was in the 
latter part of 1872 after Grant's visit, but before 
the death of McMurtry, or the shooting of Snyder 
by Bishop, and of course the Dives and Pelican 
were large producers of ore. 

In the early part of 1873 we struck the King 
David at a depth of a hundred feet from the sur- 
face and a hundred and ten feet from mouth of 
tunnel. After drifting some distance each way on 
the vein we became discouraged and felt like throw- 
ing up the sponge and retiring to private life. But 
we found the spur, as we called it, that brought us 
to the mine continued on into the mountain. We 
made a record of our cross-cut and called it the 
Shelton Tunnel, and began talking about striking 
an extension of the Dives and Pelican, just off their 
territory and at a depth of six hundred feet, pro- 
vided their limitations were that extensive. 

In this way the "spur" became more valuable 
than the mine. The tunnel was talked about by 
others and mentioned in the papers as an enter- 
prise promising big results. There are "fads" in 
mining- countries as well as other places. At this 
time the Diamond tunnel, about a quarter of a mile 
west of ours, was in operation for the purpose of 



126 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

striking the Dives five or six hundred feet under 
its discovery point. But our tunnel could be driven 
at a third the cost of others on account of the 
"gouge" or spur, and of course this enhanced its 
value. 

The Burleigh tunnel situated half way between 
Silver Plume and Brownville, named for the man 
who discovered the Terrible mine, had been in oper- 
ation for some time. Mr. Burleigh was the in- 
ventor of a drill run by compressed air. I have seen 
it at work and it made a kind of clatter. No man 
living could count the strokes, they were so rapid. 
They struck a mine which had a big lot of low 
grade ore at the surface, a thousand feet above, 
but it did not vary an ounce in value. Work had 
been conducted on the Marshal tunnel for two 
years, expecting to strike the Equator and other 
mines in its line. 

Mention is made of these tunnels, and still there 
were others, to show this was one way of develop- 
ing mining property. It not only facilitated taking 
out the ore in many ways, and delivering it to 
wagons on a lower level, but gave the mine drain- 
age and pure air. Our object now was to place the 
Shelton tunnel on the same basis with other big 
tunnels, merely prospecting for mines that might 
be and doubtless were in front of us. 

As our tunnel was easy to approach, we had a 
number of visitors nearly every day, and it was 
always easy enough to tell them that we expected 
to strike other mines before reaching the exten- 
sion of the Dives. I met a man one day by the 
name of John Murley, and he suggested to me 
the plan of forming a stock company retaining a 
half interest for ourselves. Let each stockholder 
bind himself to pay $10.00 per month on each 
$100.00 of stock for two years. It would only re- 
quire a capital of $5,000. paid in as needed. By 
adopting his plan two shifts could be paid, both 
night and day. 

He ventured to suggest that if the property be- 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 127 

longed to him he would work it that way. His con- 
fidence and enthusiasm in the scheme prompted me 
to propose selling out to him. As a fact neither 
Daniel or myself had much confidence in the scheme, 
or in the probability of valuable mines in line with 
our tunnel, nor did we wish to spend too much time 
and money on a venture of this character. After a 
good deal of talk too tedious to mention we made 
him a deed to the tunnel and he gave us his check 
for $800.00. There was nothing said about selling 
the King David which we thought might be worth 
something 

Quite true this did not pay us in full for our 
time and expense on the tunnel, which we had 
driven a hundred and forty feet, but we had the 
prospect during the time and lively hope of striking 
a young fortune by developing our mine. Murley 
was meeting with some success in his scheme of 
raising a company when unfortunately he took sick 
and died, and there was no one to take his place. 
Nothing more was done about it up to the time I 
left the country, which was forty-four years ago. 
Perhaps it still remains just as we left it. 

Nothing else being in sight we moved our trap- 
pings down to the old cabin in Georgetown. It 
seemed a little strange not to meet Mr. Webster 
there to give us a warm welcome and glad hand, 
but before leaving he had stacked a nice lot of 
stove wood under the bunks ready for use. The 
woods were full of worse men than Webster. Some 
one found out that we did not claim the little house 
left in Silver Plume, and as it was a good building 
site they moved it, and built a regular "dance- 
house" in its place. I will refer to this building 
later when finished, and the wild orgies held there 
after it was in swinging operation. 

We had not lost a day for nine months, and why 
should we unless for some good cause. Getting back 
home made us feel like returning from a long visit, 
and it was pleasant to have our old friends call to 
see us. Bill Moore and the Coules brothers were 



128 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

welcome visitors as they always had something to 
tell that we liked to hear. Tom Johns and his bro- 
ther Frank were from Florida. They were pleasant, 
agreeable companions, and their absence from their 
home was for purposes similar to our own. Cooley 
and Bob Harper were Mississippians and cousins to 
my cousins, but were a different and better class of 
men. They had plenty of money and spent three or 
four days with us before leaving for Nevada and 
other Western countries. We felt like going with 
them but were not ready. 

To our great surprise my partner John Burk- 
holder made his appearance with a tale of woe and 
misfortune. His wagon was loaded with two tons 
of ore, and he was making his way down a graded 
road as usual when the lower side gave way and the 
team and wagon went down the mountain two hun- 
dred feet or more, breaking the wagon into pieces 
and killing the horses, barely saving his own life 
by jumping in the nick of time, when he felt the 
wagon going over. 

He had on hand plenty of money to buy another 
team and have some left, but he was badly upset 
over his loss and the close shave in losing his life. 
It was his nature to have very little to say, but now 
he was gloomy and more reticent than ever. I men- 
tioned to him one day that it was nearly time to 
resume our work on Leavenworth Mountain, and 
as one of the partners it was his privilege to work 
with me if he wished to do so. After some hesitan- 
cy he said: "I have about made up my mind to try 
some other section of the country. If I can be re- 
leased from further obligations I will deed you all 
my interest in the company, except the Pulaska." 

My only alternative was to accept his proposi- 
tion, as I knew Daniel would accept his place. The 
mistake was in not taking a power of attorney to 
sell his interest in the Pulaska, if an opportunity 
presented itself, as the sequel will show. When 
the season permitted we commenced work where 
we left off the year before. We had very little hope 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 129 

of finding anything of much, or any value, but we 
had spent too much labor and money on these cuts 
to abandon them without a thorough investigation. 
Disappointment sinks the heart of man is a trite 
old adage, and very true, especially if repeated 
quite often. Water puts out fire and in the same 
way repeated failure puts out the fire of enthusiasm 
and effort. 

Nearing the top and on the last cut we found a 
small vein of mineral about an inch thick, we came 
near passing over it, on account of no other indi- 
cation only the mineral. In appearance it reminded 
me of stuff found in the Summit mine. It had been 
a full year since having a direct use for the blow- 
pipe when it told me the Pulaska was no account, 
but now it told a different tale and said $1200.00 
per ton or 60 cents per pound. We now owned the 
least though richest mine in the country, also the 
largest and most worthless one. The two extremes, 
and yet not more than a half mile apart. 

We ran an open cut so as to strike the vein ten 
feet from the surface. This would enable us to 
save the ore to a much better advantage, and also 
determine whether other small veins were near 
this one or not. In three weeks we had in sacks 
over two hundred pounds of ore, but the vein had 
pinched down to about half an inch. Some mines 
increase in size as depth is gained while others 
taper a different way. There was a party in the 
city that made small bars and buttons from rich 
ore. I carried down to Captain Pope fiften or twenty 
pounds of ore to make him a paper weight for his 
office. I have now in my posession a small silver 
button, containing three or four dollars in silver, 
sprouted to resemble a full blown rose, but, like 
the gold pellet, it is not for sale. 

Every night we could see the lights gleaming 
over in Silver Plume. Through curiosity we con- 
cluded to walk down and see how a dance house 
was conducted, on the principle that the cat is not 
hurt by looking at a king. The village of five or 



130 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

six hundred inhabitants was a regular mining town 
run on the wide-open plan. This was awhile before 
Snyder was killed and the Dives and Pelican were 
giving work to over a hundred day laborers and 
paying them $100.00 each per month when they 
put in full time, and there were other mines doing 
the same, so nearly everybody had a pocket full 
of money, of no other use than to spend it. 

There was a large hall with a new sleek floor, 
and it cost nothing to enter. A bar with large mir- 
rors attractively arranged occupied most of the 
rear end, the balance of the rear space was used 
by a band of musicians. There were fifteen or 
twenty women, I didn't count them, of the demi- 
monde character of course. Fifty or seventy-five 
men, some of them well-dressed, the gamblers, but 
most of them wore the garb of a miner. As they 
were the bone and sinew of the whole thing, de- 
cided preferment was given them. A "set" lasted 
five or six minutes and then the music stopped, and 
every man treated his partner at the bar. He paid 
in fifty cents for what cost the bar less than five 
cents, and the balance was clear profit. In the mean- 
time another "set" was forming so the Bacchana- 
lian ball went on. 

Everybody seemed to be laughing and talking 
about something, but I could see nothing funny or 
interesting. How on earth men could find pleasure 
or amusement in such debauchery passed my com- 
prehension. The Spaniard and Mexican spend their 
time and money to see a man fight an infuriated 
bull. On Sunday morning he attends church, and 
in the evening he goes to see and bet money on a 
chicken fight, and we call them half-civilized. The 
highest type of civilization spend their time and 
money to see a lot of young men risk limb and life 
over a ball game in which some of them are maimed 
for life while others are kiled outright, and they 
call this heathen game, "football." Men and women 
travel thousands of miles to see two beastly men 
Stand up and knock each other down, and they call 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 131 

it pugilism. There might be question whether dance 
house amusements were a greater evil than the 
others mentioned called athletic sports. After an 
hour or two we quietly "skidooed". Further com- 
ments on the subject will be deferred to some other 
occasion, which may never occur. 

While working on the little mine which we gave 
the big name of "Robert Lee," we discovered an- 
other mine about two hundred feet further up the 
mountain. It showed two inches solid mineral and 
in some places better, and we were greatly encour- 
aged because across the way about five hundred feet 
distant, though on the other slope of the moun- 
tain, three Welshmen owned a mine just like it 
from which they had taken several tons of ore. A 
few weeks later Bill Moore paid them $10,000. 
each and they left for the old country. Moore made 
$45,000. on the sale he told me. 

The blow-pipe said it was worth $400.00 per ton 
which means 20 cents per pound. To get a fairly 
good price for a mine it was necessary to show a 
mill run of more tons of ore than one. Capitalists 
were shy in buying gopher holes. I had imbibed an 
idea that one man could run the risk of a mine 
continuing to produce ore as well as another, yet 
it might be best on general principles to let the 
man with lots of money assume that risk. We sold 
the ore taken from the "Lee", which brought us 
over $200.00. 

In the spring or first part of the year Judge 
Harmon had moved to Denver and was then en- 
gaged in the practice of law at that place. I received 
a very kind letter from him inviting me to attend 
the big fair and spend a week or so with him. As 
I had been in the mountains for six long years I 
concluded to accept his invitation. It is not my pur- 
pose to write about the fair but will say the exhi- 
bits of every character were far superior to what 
I expected. One of the attractive features was a 
stack of silver brick as high as my head. They were 
stacked across each other like building a rail pen 



132 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

and capped off with a gold brick on top. These 
bricks were near the size and shape of an ordinary 
brick. A guard, dressed in blue uniform stood near, 
and a little paper flag, with the words "hands off," 
was a warning to the public. 

The principal object of my visit to Judge Har- 
mon was to talk over with him our mining enter- 
prise. He had spent some money keeping up his 
part. We might easily get two or three thousand 
dollars each for the two mines without incurring 
any further risk of their pinching out, and he had 
a right to his preference in the matter. I wanted 
him to have some assurance he could get his money 
back and some besides. But I found he was more 
enthused over our prospects than even myself. He 
thought some of those mines we had discarded 
might yet prove valuable, at any rate if we failed 
it would be an honest failure. 

On my return to the mountain I found Daniel 
had been out among the cliffs, which were directly 
opposite where we built the flue, and discovered a 
small streak of mineral. It seems like maybe things 
were coming our way, so we concluded to put in a 
few shots, in fact worked there two or thre days. 
A thunder shower, a very unusual thing, passed over 
and the sun came out with vigor. Fortunately, yes 
very fortunately, I happened to look up toward a 
jutting cliff some thousand feet or more higher up 
than where we were working, and to my amaze- 
ment saw part of the cliff toppling over and the 
rocks coming toward us. I called Daniel to run, ex- 
pecting him to follow me in safety to a cliff some 
forty feet distant. I could see millions of rocks 
whizzing and scooting by. There is no use trying 
to describe a thing of this kind for I am not able 
to do the subject justice. But where was Daniel? 
Naturally I supposed he had been swept away by 
this deluge of rocks. Presently he made his appear- 
ance. He had taken refuge behind a bluff some 
nearer, where the rocks had passed over him. 

The rocks passed within a few feet of the place 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 133 

we were working and filled up the excavation we 
had made. As the danger might not yet be over we 
gathered up what tools we could find and made a 
hasty departure. A few days later we went back, 
but never did get all our tools. We deemed it a 
dangerous place to work and concluded to wait 
until our scare was over. 

After an absence of nearly two weeks we re- 
sumed work on our new discovery with a vim. 
Taking out mineral from a mine of our own was 
quite exhilerating. Before this our work had been 
on "indications" except the Pulaska and it was very 
little better. We were always hopeful, but hope 
with something in sight was a new experience in 
our mining career. There might be a fortune near 
at hand, at least the prospects were fine in that 
direction. To me it was very gratifying to know 
that Daniel would be an equal partner. 

Our mine was near a pathway, not trail, leading 
from Georgetown to a huckleberry patch of nearly 
a hundred acres. The little bushes grew about 
twelve inches high, thick with small limbs, on 
which the berries grew. In former years I had 
gathered the same kind of berries from bushes 
higher than my head, on the Cumberland Moun- 
tains. The tinner made a device with prongs, and 
a tin cup attached, by which the berries could be 
gathered without picking them. One person could 
gather two gallons in less than an hour. From 
twenty to fifty people passed by our mine every 
day as long as the berries lasted. 

Further along and below the place where the 
loose rock had given us a close call, there was a 
two or three-acre patch of red raspberries, also 
ripe at that time. Due to this fact many people went 
there. This place was also the home of the coney 
rabbit, a little animal about the size of a big- rat, 
though size and shape of the rabbit. They seemed 
to be busy putting up their winter supplies. These 
were the only conies I ever saw. And these two 
kinds of berries, found at no other place, are the 



134 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

only two things fit for people to eat that I ever 
saw growing in these high altitudes. 

The many people passing soon spread the news 
around that we were opening a number of valuable 
mines on the north slope of Leavenworth Moun- 
tain, which brought us a different class of visitors. 
There were four classes of miners: (1) the man 
that worked by the day and took no chances ; (2) 
taking a lease on a mine or discovery with a writ- 
ten or oral agreement; (3) the prospector, and to 
this class I had the honor of being a member ; (4) 
the man that took an option on a mine, and if he 
sold it retained the better part for himself. 

Our visitors referred to, belonged to class No. 
2. If we were opening up mines as reported pos- 
sibly they might get a good lease. I explained to 
them that we had numerous discoveries and many 
of them no doubt might be paying mines when pro- 
perly developed. After going over the different cuts 
with six or eight parties, three of them decided to 
take leases. We had already built a trail up that 
side of the mountain in order to carry our ore to 
the mill. Pope wrote the lease giving them all they 
might take out for the first six months, binding 
them to work the mine so as to leave it in good 
shape. We were anxious to see some of these "in- 
dications" at a depth of seventy-five or a hundred 
feet. 

Some men made good money on leases. I will 
mention one instance and could mention others. 
Judge Coules discovered a small pay streak on the 
hill above the Equator. His two sons, Mart and 
Clay, by drifting on the vein could gain depth from 
the surface as fast as sinking a shaft, and the min- 
eral paid some more than wages. The boys were 
good miners, yet for some cause they lost the pay 
streak. Continuing the drift forty or fifty feet fur- 
ther leaving behind them what they supposed was 
the sleek, smooth, hanging wall, and not finding 
any mineral, concluded to quit at least for awhile. 

My special friend Tom Pirtle belonged to class 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 135 

No. 2 and with candle and pick entered the drift 
with a view of taking a lease if things looked fa- 
vorable. In a half accidental way he picked in 
through the supposed hanging wall and found two 
or three inches of solid rich mineral. He lost no 
time in taking a lease to have all he could take out 
of the mine for two months. With his brother and 
two hired men they took out $11,000. by the time 
the lease expired. This was a little fortune to the 
boys, so they left for their home in Nebraska. 

With a positive knowledge of the above facts 
before us it seems strange we did not at least put 
in one shot in the sleek wall of the Webster dis- 
covery. It is my opinion even at this late day that 
there might have been maybe a foot of mineral 
behind that wall. No doubt it remains just as we 
left it over forty years ago. Possibly it may wait 
for my return to earth a second or third time ; if so 
there is a gloomy uncertainty hanging over its fu- 
ture development. If one should wish to know more 
let him ask the whistling winds. 

Some one had built a large cabin, and by econo- 
mizing space eight of us were now occupying it, 
and the work vigorously pressed with hopeful re- 
sults. This was our time to finish making the spoon 
or spoil the horn. Two of our lessees went down 
seventy-five feet and the other eighty-five feet be- 
fore hanging up the fiddle. We drifted east and 
west on our mines, and then went down toward 
China until patience and fortitude ceased to be a 
virtue. At least one consolation, we had taken 
out enough mineral to pay fairly good wages, so 
did not have to call on our partners to make good 
their part of the expense. 

The old cabin in the city made us feel like getting 
back home. We had about run our length and done 
our do. The "Boom Ditch Co." was a thing of the 
past and no use to whine over results. We talked 
some of going further west and maybe our luck 
would change. Everything in sight had vanished, 
except working by the day, but this was no part of 



136 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

my program. I spent nearly every night, two or 
three hours for a few weeks, playing chess with a 
friend. His wife and I played against him ; we dis- 
cussed our moves and their result, and then he 
moved to suit himself. We sometimes beat him, 
though he was the best in the city. 

Occasionally I met my old friend, of several years' 
standing, Bill Moore. He no longer wore the garb 
of a miner for he had quit that kind of business. 
He was two or three years younger than myself, 
had no education, could scarcely write his name, 
but he had energy and "cheek" to make up for 
that deficiency. At that time he had made three 
or four hundred thousand dollars selling mines that 
did not belong to him. Mr. Rodgers who lived with 
his family at the foot of the hill a hundred feet 
below my cabin had discovered a mine and named 
it for himself. Moore paid him $50,000 for it and 
kept for himself $100,000. He went to St. Louis, 
Chicago and other cities in order to make his 
mining deals, but invested his money in and around 
Lincoln, a new town just starting up in Nebraska. 
Tom Johns, another one of the boys, was in the 
same business and not far behind him. Moore often 
told me if I ever expected to make big money I 
would have to quit throwing dirt. 

On my own part I had made my mind to leave 
Georgetown, but Daniel was undecided. I could 
not afford to persuade him to follow me, for there 
was no telling what wild venture I might under- 
take. I had now been away from my native home 
over seven long years. My efforts in a manner had 
been a failure, from my standpoint of what con- 
stituted a success. I had a good deal of dearly 
bought experience which every man needs in the 
battle of life, but his feelings prompt him to want 
something else as a recompense. My better judg- 
ment appealed to me to return home and take up 
the thread of life where I had left it, but my pride 
of purpose stood in the way. 

The snow was disappearing rapidly from lower 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 137 

points and I was hesitating and fully realized 
that I must make a decision now that would affect 
my destiny for years to come. While in this state 
of uncertainty I received a letter from Judge Har- 
mon in Denver telling me of a party there wishing 
to buy a big mine for only a little money. This 
seemed to me more like a joke than business, but 
he advised me to pack up some fine samples from 
the Pulaska, come to Denver and help him talk a 
sale of the property. 

In due course of time I received an introduction 
to the parties referred to in Judge Harmon's letter. 
The parley that ensued for the next several days 
would be too tedious to relate. I told them the 
mineral vein was five or six feet in width and con- 
tained mineral like the samples. That by a tunnel 
four or five hundred feet the mine would be tapped 
three or four hundred feet deep and from the mouth 
of the tunnel the ore could be delivered, on an 
easy grade, by a car into a mill already built for 
the treatment of ore. As they were willing to pur- 
chase a big mine for small money we set our price 
at only $25,000. 

Very few questions, if any at all, were asked in 
regard to the value of the ore. To verify my word 
about the mine I proposed to pay all expenses of 
any one they might designate, if he found it misrep- 
resented. They had made a rough calculation that it 
would take $8,000. to run the tunnel and that $15,- 
000. was all they would invest in the venture, leav- 
ing only $7,000. in actual cash to pay us. At first 
Pope and Harmon were opposed to accepting their 
offer, but I explained to them that the mine was 
worth nothing to us, and that this money would 
pay them back three or four times as much money 
as they had expended, so we finally agreed to ac- 
cept their proposition. 

While this deal was going on, another, in some 
respects more important, was working itself to 
the front. The Government had bought part of the 
Ute Indian reservation, and from the glowing ac- 



138 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

counts in the papers it was rich in mineral. A 
banker by the name of Collins as a partner with 
Mr. Harmon proposed to pay me two-thirds of all 
expenses, including wages at $4.00 per day, to go 
into this section and we would be one-third owners 
in all I might find. As I wanted to see more of the 
Western country, I accepted their proposition to 
take effect as soon as we completed our mining 
sale, which would require only a short while. 

Returning to Georgetown with the party desig- 
nated we visited the Pulaska next day, and he was 
highly pleased. I told Daniel about my expected trip 
through the mountains and found he would like 
to go with me, in fact I was anxious for him to go, 
but did not want to insist or even advise him to do 
so. We called on our friend Tom Johns at his room 
in the hotel. After a conference lasting an hour 
or two he took Daniel's receipt for $200.00 and 
they were to be equal partners in the discoveries, 
virtually the same arrangement I had made with 
the parties in Denver. 

This man Johns was a shrewd trader and had 
made over $200,000. selling and dealing in mines. 
He had this actual cash in a leather valise or grip 
which he carried in his hand swung across his 
shoulder by a strap. He had a tinner to make tin 
boxes, with hinges to them, of a certain size to 
hold $500., $100., $50. and $20. dollar bills. The grip 
and its contents would not weigh over six or eight 
pounds. He expected to start in a few days, so he 
said, out through Utah and other Western sections 
on a speculating detour, and wanted to have his 
money with him. According to his idea it was too 
much money to risk in the banks. 

A favorable report on the Pulaska mine consu- 
mated the deal and the money was ready on pre- 
sentation of the deed but one of the owners was 
absent. I had received a postal card from Burk- 
holder at Halls Gulch, out in the mountains about 
seventy miles west of Denver. As it was very un- 
certain about getting a letter to him quickly, Judge 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 139 

Harmon went with me to a livery stable and we 
hired a suitable conveyance to make the trip. That 
evening I drove out to the head of Turkey Canyon 
about thirty miles. 

Halls Gulch was a place of one store and a few 
other buildings. I had feed for my team with me, 
and for some cause quite a number of men were 
standing around, some of them pitching horse shoes, 
others seeing it. I saw several parties that knew 
Burkholder and they told me he and others had 
left for Oro City, about forty miles distant, ex- 
pecting to make part of the trip on snowshoes. 
They also told me there was a way of reaching 
that place by going through Fairplay, and then 
some hundred and fifty miles or more still further, 
with practically a good road and no snow all the 
way. 

Being on the job to stay, after night overtook 
me I let the ponies do their own driving, and about 
nine o'clock they stopped in front of a livery stable, 
perhaps they had been there before. I had traveled 
all day over good roads in an altitude of 10,000 
feet, another 1,000 feet in height would have been 
above timber line, and had made seventy miles, 
paying out $3.00 at the different toll gates. Next 
morning I could plainly see a mountain range five 
or six miles distant, bearing off toward the west, 
yet covered with snow. A man offered for $10.00 
to furnish the snowshoes and lead the way through 
Mosquito Pass over to Oro City only fiften miles 
away. But I was not in the snowshoe business. 

The memory of this long trip and the events are 
still fresh in my mind,, but time and space warn 
me that most of them must be left out of this nar- 
rative. Middle Park is a level tract of land in the 
heart of the mountains, suitable for grazing in 
the summer season. It was fifty miles to Chubb's 
ranch on the head of Trout Creek, and not a house 
of any kind on the way. Three or four miles out 
on my journey I noticed a number of men working 
in a pit fifty or seventy-five feet in diameter and 



140 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

about twenty feet deep. As this was something new 
to me I halted a few minutes to see what they 
were doing and how they did it. 

They were using a derrick run by a small engine, 
and with a large iron scoop were depositing sand 
and gravel in a flue on top of the ground, partly 
filled with water. A gentleman came forward and 
we shook hands. I readily recognized him as Mr. 
Clark for whom I had worked on the Terrible mine. 
He was a rich man now but still hunting for some- 
thing bigger than ever. I learned from him that he 
was taking out some gold but expected to find 
better pay on reaching the bed rock. Six days later, 
on my return trip, bed rock had not been found, 
the derrick had fallen, which killed one man, and 
that man was Mr. Clark. The irony of Fate or some 
other decree had called him to a higher court. 

Next day at the mouth of Trout Creek I crossed 
the Arkansas River and made an acute angle bear- 
ing east of north, and recrossed the river next day 
near Granite City. This village was in a fever of 
excitement over the killing of a man in the court 
room during a trial. It was yet twenty-five miles 
to my point of destination. About three miles above 
the city I found an obstruction across the road. A 
large flat boulder and part of the bank had filled 
the road two-thirds full for ten or fifteen feet 
making it impossible for me to pass without assist- 
ance. 

Unhitching the team and pushing back the buggy 
a hundred yards I turned it around and was soon 
on the way back to Granite City but I failed to 
find any one willing to assist me until I approached 
a man hammering on a piece of hot iron. I asked 
him the question if he was a mason, and after a 
brief conversation he banked his fires, took a ham- 
mer and a wrench, and went with me. He seemed 
to know exactly what to do and how to do it. 
Taking the tongue and wheels off, we lifted the 
balance of the conveyance over the obstruction. It 
took fifteen or twenty minutes to put me on my 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 141 

journey. The dashing waters of the river could be 
seen and heard fifty feet below. I offered and in- 
sisted on paying him for his trouble, but not a cent 
would he receive, telling me it was not a money 
job. 

I reached the mouth of California Gulch between 
sundown and dark. When darkness overtook me I 
still held the lines but the ponies did their own driv- 
ing, as it was too dark for me to see the road. At 
last a gleam of light in the distance caught my eye. 
When the team stopped I could see men in a room 
paying cards, but could not make them hear me. 
I was numb with cold and fatigue ; finally when 
they came out one of them assisted me into the 
house. A cup of hot coffee and a warm supper 
brought me to the fore, right side up with care. 
If any man shauld presume to say that traveling 
through a strange country on a very dark night 
was a species of fun and amusement, he might 
open up a good case for impeaching his veracity. 

In commencing my search for Burkholder next 
morning I soon learned that the object of my long 
drive through the mountains was liable to prove 
a failure. I made it a point to ask everyone I met 
if he knew a man by the name of Burkholder and 
received the same negative answer from each one. 
I was not much surprised at this for we had been 
partners in the prospecting business for three or 
four months before I knew his name, in fact did not 
know it until we organized the Leavenworth Boom 
Ditch Co. 

Oro City was simply a placer mining village 
that had been on wheels, so to speak, from the 
mouth of California Gulch. Parties had been sluic- 
ing for gold in this gulch for ten years past and 
had gradually moved their camp higher up the 
gulch as the gold deposits were worked out below. 
They expected ultimately to find the mother lode 
where the gold had its origin, and then commence 
quartz mining on the vein which is often more 
profitable. At several places, on my return trip, 



142 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

I noticed banks forty feet high with a chasm a 
hundred feet wide, while at other places the banks 
were lower showing the bed rock was much nearer 
the surface. I noticed one place in particular where 
my buggy wheel had run within a foot of a forty- 
foot bank, but I did not know it at the time. 

In the head of the chasm or gulch six or eight 
men were working and I went down among them 
to make inquiry. They were using two large noz- 
zles, which under hydraulic pressure were throwing 
water against the banks, the water carrying off the 
sand, dirt and small gravel through a flue pre- 
pared in the regular way for catching the gold. 
Several men were moving boulders, large and small 
so as to assist the water in doing its work. Thi'S 
was the most systematic way of gulch mining I 
had ever seen, and reduced the labor to a minimum. 

The only man I could find that knew Burkholder 
was the one merchant of the city. He had sold 
Burkholder a bill of supplies for him and his com- 
panions, but did not know how far or which way 
it was to their camp. As it was yet early in the 
day I decided to take a tramp through the hills 
and ravines to see if I could find them. This gave 
me an opportunity as a prospector to examine the 
mineral croppings of that particular section. Per- 
haps I walked ten miles or more as the ground was 
not nearly so rough or precipituous as I had been 
used to. 

Possibly it would have been greatly to my in- 
terest had I remained there another day, or even 
several days, and continued my tramping with pick 
and shovel. It is always a hard and difficult thing 
for a man to wear his "fore" sights, where there is 
a strong element of uncertainty, but I picked up 
during the day a number of fine float specimens, 
and saw three or four of those gray ashbank indi- 
cations which led me to know from experience 
that lead, and maybe silver, could be easily found, 
and a few years later, was found in large quanti- 
ties. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 143 

To prove the correctness of this idea and state- 
ment, in less than five years from that time a flour- 
ishing city, called Leadville, with a population of 
20,000 inhabitants was built up there in the vici- 
nity of Oro City. It was the largest strictly mining 
town in all the Rocky Mountains. Georgetown, 
less than a hundred miles distant in a straight line, 
once had a population of 5,000, and Cripple Creek 
12,000 or 15,000; they were the next largest. 

As my expenses were $14.00 per day it looked 
like burning up too much money, though later I 
could see this was a mistake on my part, so I con- 
cluded to write Burkholder a letter, telling him all 
the particulars, and left it with the merchant, ex- 
plaining to him its importance. On my return I 
made the regular fifty miles per day except the 
last lap of thirty miles. It was eighteen miles down 
Turkey Canyon, and then twelve further to Den- 
ver. Both ponies were lame in their front feet, so 
had to let them walk. It was dark when I drove in 
the home stable. I had been absent ten days and 
expected to pay him $100.00 but he reduced the 
bill, of his own accord, to $70.00. 

Of course I met Judge Harmon and explained to 
him the results of the trip. We both called on the 
purchasers of the Pulaska, but found they were un- 
willing to pay the money until all parties had signed 
the deed. We assured them that Burkholder would 
be on hand in ten days or less time, and they agreed 
to wait. Really we were afraid they might back out. 
Daniel had arranged with four other men that on 
my return six of us would pay a teamster that had 
agreed to take us to Del Norte for $20.00 each. I 
gave Judge Harmon power of attorney to collect 
my money, and we started on our long trip. 



CHAPTER VI 

PROSPECTING IN THE SAN JUAN COUNTRY. 
LARGE MINERAL VEINS BUT LOW GRADE ORE. 
A LONG TRIP OF 250 MILES. FAILED TO REACH 
GUNNISON MINES. INDIAN TROUBLE. DIS- 
COURAGED RETURNED TO GEORGETOWN. 
AGREED WITH MY PARTNERS TO MAKE 
ANOTHER TRIP INTO THE MINES. 
RETURN TO MY NATIVE HOME TO 
STAY. 

Beginning a new chapter is also the beginning 
of a new venture. The estimated distance to Del 
Norte was three hundred miles. With nice spring 
seats, an easy running wagon and a spanking good 
team, the driver expected to make an average of 
forty miles per day, and at this rate reach our des- 
tination in seven days. I had just made fifty mile's 
a day and in higher altitudes. As our board was in- 
cluded in the price of transportation, he hired an 
extra man to do the cooking. The supplies were 
carried with us and we were not overly hard to 
please, so they did not cost much. Riding all day 
long for a whole week grows monotonous and tire- 
some, otherwise we had a pleasant time and a good 
chance to see the country. 

On the third day we passed through Manitou, 
and circling around Pike's Peak, camped a little 
north of where Cripple Creek is now located. Of 
course we all expected to get rich in the new "El- 
dorado" of the San Juan (San Wan) country, and 
were in high glee over the prospects. There is 
nothing like a high-grade incentive behind a man's 
movements. We had lots to talk about, and nothing 
else to do, so camp life was very like a pastime. 

We reached Del Norte, situated on the Rio 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 145 

Grande River, a little before noon on the seventh 
day. From this point the real tug of war com- 
menced. It was a hundred miles to the head waters 
of the river, and then ten miles further to Bakers 
Park, the supposed center of the new mining re- 
or the mill would be of no further service. It was 
gion. The necessary equipment to make this jour- 
ney was the next thing in order. We knew every- 
thing needed in prospecting and developing a mine 
if such was found, also we knew the largest amount 
of supplies possible, would all have to be carried 
with us, for such things as these would be hard to 
get in a new mining camp. 

One of the very important things was to pur- 
chase two good pack animals. There were two bur- 
ros' corrals near the town owned by two Mexicans, 
an dthey, the burros, were there for sale. The price 
of these little animals ranged from $10.00 to $30.00 
according to size and age. They were gentle and 
easy to handle, in fact they are "born that way." 
Using our best judgment we selected two of the 
best ones. We gave a greaser fifty cents to select 
two good pack saddles and show us how to do the 
packing act. He showed us how to tie knots that 
would not slip, and taught us the secret of the 
"diamond hitch" by which the pack was kept to 
its place up or down hill. 

We drove out eight or ten miles the first evening 
and selected a good camping place which contained 
of wood, water and grass, three indispensable 
things. One of the commendable qualities of these 
little animals is that with plenty of grass they will 
stay near camp, and frequently come in at day- 
light to get a taste of salt. They will carry a hun- 
dred to a hundred and fifty pounds all day and 
never sulk. He needs no shoes for his feet, and can 
go anywhere a man can go without using his hands. 
So much said for the donkey, and I ought to know 
him well. 

Fifty miles on our journey we passed Wagon 
Wheel Gap which was the limit of the expedition 



146 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

led by John C. Fremont seeking a low pass in the 
Continental Divide. Two old wagon wheels were 
on the side of the road said to be part of his train. 
The river passes through a gorge at this place a 
mile long, and it was five miles over a rough moun- 
tain to get back into the valley. 

At Pole Creek we found several parties unable 
to get across. After 10 or 11 A. M. until midnight, 
the creek was a raging torrent, but in the early 
morning it could be crossed with safety. One of the 
men went up the creek and killed a mountain sheep 
and brought the hind-quarters into camp, but for 
my part I preferred taking a rest instead of hunt- 
ing. Next morning our donkeys easily took the 
lead. Usually I walked in front to pick the best 
part of the road, and they soon learned to follow 
my footsteps. The numerous little branches, some 
of them knee deep, we paid no more attention to 
than if they had been dry land. 

On the sixth day we crossed the "Great Divide." 
There were yet patches of snow in low places. A 
deep ravine was down below us, and the moun- 
tain was steep. We could look up the canyon and 
see a beautiful cascade, formed by melting snow, 
pitching off a cliff not less than 1,000 feet high. We 
struck camp that night about a mile above Bullion 
City, so-called, on the Animus River which flows 
westward and finally into the Pacific Ocean. 

In talking with several parties that evening and 
night I learned from them that a number of pros- 
pectors were up the river about eight miles at the 
mouth of Eureka Gulch. This is where Baker and 
five of his comrades were massacred by the Indians 
a few years previous, two of them escaping to tell 
the tale of horror. Their representation of vast 
mineral deposits led the Government to purchase 
the Indians' claim to the country, though some of 
them were still displeased about it and frequently 
went on the war-path. 

On reaching that point next day we found much 
nicer camping ground, and soon formed the ac- 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 147 

quaintance of other prospectors. Three or four of 
them had already made a big discovery, and in 
their vivid imagination were quite wealthy, or soon 
would be. On invitation we visited their mine and 
found it big enough, in fact larger than the Pulas- 
ka. It was hard to tell where it commenced or 
ended. There was no break in the granite rock to 
indicate the walls of a mine, such as we had been 
used to see incasing a vein either large or small. 
They were very kind in explaining to us the na- 
ture of mineral deposits and how to determine their 
value, taking great pride in pointing out to us the 
spots and streaks of ruby silver seen in their spe- 
cimens of ore. As we had been in the business of 
prospecting only seven or eight years we readily 
conceded to them a superiority of knowledge. I 
had often been in their fix and well knew that 
"where ignorance is bliss it is folly to be wise." 
They presented us with several small specimens 
of their ore to carry in our pockets as a "mascot" 
to give us luck in finding a mine of the same kind. 

Leaving our new found friends we proceeded to 
trace the croppings of their mine, which was easily 
done as there was nothing but bare rocks all the 
way, a distance of a quarter mile or perhaps 2000 
feet. We made a discovery of our own, however, 
as we had no drill with us we passed on to see if 
some other mine was waiting to be located. We 
made a kind of preliminary survey of the country 
that day, passing by the spot where Baker and his 
men lost their lives. A few rusty shovels and other 
tools bore a silent testimony to the sad fate of their 
former owners, but such is often the ending of an 
early western life. 

In a measure we now had a secondary interest 
in the "Ruby Mine" (maybe that was its name) 
by virtue of a discovery on its extension. Due to 
this fact and partly through curiosity I decided to 
take out my blowpipe and see how it stood the 
recent 400-mile trip, with a view of making an 
assay on the "mascot" specimen. The little Wedge- 



148 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

wood mortar and pestle was all right. I soon 
made a few bone-ash cupels, and in a short time a 
small part of the specimen, was under the "blue 
blaze." Ruby silver is nearly a third pure silver, 
and I might expect a nice little button as a result, 
but instead it went into thin air and only a trace 
of silver was left, possibly six or eight ounces to 
the ton. 

Our friends paid us a social visit that night, and 
we told them of making a discovery on the exten- 
sion of their mine, and that it was our intention 
to cross-cut the entire width of the vein with a 
view of finding the core or rich streak if such 
existed. We also showed them our ^g drills, two of 
them eighteen and two nine inches long all sharp 
and ready for use. Each one of us by using a three- 
pound hammer drilled a hole, and then a little stick 
of giant powder or dynamite did the work. We 
learned this from Mr. Glenn formerly mentioned. 

Drills in constant use require sharpening and 
the nearest place for that kind of work was Bullion 
City, six miles distant. This fact forced us to build 
a forge of our own, and by the way it is worth 
mentioning how it is done. Build a rock flue about 
a foot in diameter at the base and gradually draw 
in to six inches, three feet from the ground, and 
then flange it out for the next foot. About two or 
three inches from the base leave an apperture 2x4 
or less, to insert the drill or point of the pick. If 
too much draft at any time the place can be closed 
by a rock of the proper size. As a substitute for 
an anvil we used a small steel plate 1-4 inch thick 
2x3, fastened on a stump or log. 

Ten days work put our claim in proper shape for 
record. The "stuff" when first brought to light had 
a metallic appearance, but a few days exposure to 
the air turned it to a dingy black. I made a dozen 
or more assays, each time with the same result, 
"nothing doing." We might have quit the job, but 
thought maybe there might be a rich streak, but 
it was not there. It reminded me of zink-blend, 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 149 

sometimes called "black-jack," and is about as 
innocent of gold or silver as granite itself. Perhaps 
mines of this character are yet in their adolescent 
period, and in the course of a thousand years or 
longer they will be valuable for future generations. 
We continued to prospect for several days higher 
up on the mountain on both sides and the head of 
Eureka gulch. It was much preferable to find a 
smaller mine with richer mineral, something like 
the Robert Lee, formerly mentioned, for instance. 
There were large mines of little value around 
Georgetown, but there were smaller ones of great 
value, and such might be the case in this section 
of the country. But failing to find anything of that 
kind we folded our tent and went back to Bullion 
City to take a new start. 

On going up the gulch, we came down the first 
day, we noticed the beautiful cascade was no longer 
in business, the supply of water had given out. We 
made a circuit higher on the mountain, and as it 
happened found two men we had formerly known, 
though had lost sight of for the last few years. 
They were crossing a big mine just as we had done. 
I took a specimen of their best mineral to our 
camp and found it just like ours. I was slowly 
making up my mind there was no rich mineral in 
the country, but did not want to reach this con- 
clusion until I had tested the mineral from dis- 
coveries made by others as well as myself. If I 
could find some one with a rich specimen I would 
visit that location. 

In order to obtain better grazing for our burros 
we moved further down the Animus, which was 
called a river, though in size was only a creek, 
easily forded in the first part of the day. It was our 
intention in starting one day to go out as far as 
the Continental Range, perhaps six miles. Men 
looking for a needle in a haystack possibly might 
find it near the top. I owned a small telescope 
about six inches long kept in a leather case with a 
shoulder strap. When extended it was about two 



150 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

feet long and enabled me to see things at a dis- 
tance, a hundred or more times better. 

When going into high altitudes I usually carried 
this instrument with me. Part of my business in 
the country was to see things. Like the miser that 
never gets enough gold, so with the eye it is never 
feasted. Ascending the mountain a short distance 
we concluded to take a look at Silverton situated 
in the upper end of Bakers Park and about three 
miles distant. To our great surprise we could see 
a number of "Noble Red Men" of the forest riding 
around and others on their way. We changed our 
intended trip to another day, and started to the 
park to see what it meant. 

As it happened a number of prospectors and 
others were on hand and had staked out a race 
track in the park by the time we got there. Ouray, 
the big Chief of the Ute tribe, was on his way down 
to the Animus valley, about thirty miles further, 
where some of his "big braves" were threatening 
to take the "war path" against white settlers. This 
part of the valley was included in the purchase by 
the Government yet the Indians, some of them, did 
not want to give it up, as it was valuable for graz- 
ing purposes. 

Chief Ouray was a large portly Indian of over 
two hundred pounds. He wore an old rusty high 
crown beaver hat, a faded yellow vest and buck- 
skin pants. It seemed to me his mouth was at least 
four inches from corner to corner. Like other In- 
dians he had very little to say, though could grunt 
out a few English words. Some ten bucks were 
along, his bodyguard I suppose, all riding nice sleek 
ponies. Only two of his squaws were present, both 
riding astride the same animal. But Ouray was 
friendly to the white man and was trying to keep 
peace. 

Baker's Park was three miles wide and five long, 
and certain parties had a few nice ponies picketed 
out on the grass. They brought several in to race 
with the Chief's ponies, but he would only bet 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 151 

$5.00 on each race. Out of ten races the Chief lost 
three. The last race was a close one, and there was 
some contention over it. After this the Chief said 
"Umph ! me bet no more, good white man, big 
Indian go, want peace." Ouray put up his money 
like a good gambler, but did not decide the winner 
of the race. 

We met three of the men that camped with us on 
Pole Creek, and they were jubilant over their pros- 
pects. They had beaten us to the "jug" and had 
taken a good "swig" in the shape of several big 
discoveries. With pride and assurance of great 
wealth they showed me specimens containing near- 
ly half gray copper, which of itself is twenty per 
cent pure silver. For the time I was encouraged 
that there was valuable mineral in the country, 
and told them we would visit their mining section 
at an early date. I was allowed to keep a small spe- 
cimen. 

Silverton was rated as the County Site, and a 
nice location for a large city, which is more than 
can be said for most all mining towns. We found 
a man for the paltry sum of $4.00 who was willing 
to write a few lines in a blank book, and then fill 
out the blank and sign his name as Recorder. After 
handing back the change for a $5.00 bill, he could 
afford to sit back with an air of assumed importance 
of holding an office. 

After Ouray left the crowd dispersed. In order 
to reach camp we had to cross the Animus which 
was then at full tide. Where the water was shallow 
it was too swift to be safe, so we found a good 
wading place and it circled around just under the 
chin, and good cold water too. The first thing on 
docket after reaching camp was to find out what 
the "blue blaze" said about the sample of gray 
copper. With amazement and disappointment I 
watched it vanish into thin air. There was no use 
now in keeping the engagement, just as well stay 
on our own side of the river, at least the chances 
were equally as good. 



152 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

In prospecting we usually carried a pick, ham- 
mer, drill and a few sticks of giant powder. No 
use looking for "indications" for there were none. 
We had not even worn the new off our shovels, in 
fact had very little use for them. Perhaps we put 
twenty shots, on as many discoveries, trying to 
find mineral that would pay its way through a mill. 
I invariably made an assay from each shot and each 
one of us kept a sample of the mineral, wrapped 
in a piece of paper and numbered. This would en- 
able us to make a report of our work. 

We had no idea of quitting the job. The con- 
tract was for the summer season, and our inten- 
tion was to stay with it, hit or miss. We were about 
ready to move our camp up around the head 
waters of the Animus, some fifteen miles, when I 
received a leter from Judge Harmon telling me 
the sale of the Pulaska was consummated, and the 
money paid over in full, and that Burkholder had 
paid him, for me, all my expenses on the trip hunt- 
ing him. He also wrote me that the papers were 
giving very favorable reports from a new mining 
section on the Gunnison River, and suggested that 
I make a short detour through that country and 
see if the reports were true. By looking on the 
map, which doubtless he did, the distance might be 
estimated at about seventy-five miles. 

But there was not even an Indian trail connect- 
ing the two points. The only practical route was 
to go to Del Norte and Saguache, a distance of 
over two hundred miles. As we were badly rattled 
over the value of mines in that section we con- 
cluded to make the trip and on the way prospect 
up the different creeks flowing into the Rio Grande. 
This entire country consisted of mountain ranges, 
and the mountain streams with their parks and 
valleys gave it drainage. In the economy of Nature 
the mountains were made to contain mineral for 
the use of man as he became more enlightened; 
the thing was to find it. 

A long trip like this meant much walking. What 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 153 

is the use of money anyhow, unless to buy com- 
fort? For $35.00 we bought a pony and cheap saddle 
so we could take time about riding. The only 
trouble with a pony, it had to be picketed out, as 
it might take a notion to leave for parts unknown. 
We prospected one day up Pole Creek, and one day 
at Antelope Park, and two days at Wagon Wheel 
Gap. Several years later a man named Creed found 
valuable mines near this place. We gave them a 
close call but it was not our prerogative to find 
them. Luck, as such, is made of that kind of ma- 
terial. 

After a long ramble on the evening of the first 
day at this place, while Daniel got supper I took 
my line and hook and went up the gorge about two 
hundred yards and walked out on a jutting boulder, 
with the hopeful object of catching the speckled 
trout that inhabited the stream. I only had fifteen 
grasshoppers in a tin can with which to bait the 
hook. It was not a matter of either art or luck, but 
simply to throw the line as far up stream as pos- 
sible and watch the bait as it floated down. When 
the fish struck it, I gave a quick jerk, and the 
speckled beauty would come wiggling along until 
he stood in front. 

If a small one less than two pounds happened on 
the hook, I threw it back and let it grow larger 
for somebody else. In an hour or less time I had a 
nice string of ten that would weigh from two to 
four pounds each. I was not fishing for fun, but 
for a change in diet, and something better to eat. 
We knew from others that it was the nature of 
these fish to migrate up or down the stream in 
order to find water of a certain temperature to 
suit their preference, but that exact location was 
sometimes hard to find. 

Fishing never was much pleasure to me, it re- 
quires to much patience and not enough work, 
though lots of people think it is great sport. Next 
day we went further up the gorge, and might have 
gone all the way. There was a fascinating charm 



154 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

about the dashing roaring waters, enhanced by the 
surroundings, hardly excelled if ever equalled. On 
the oposite side a massive volume of rock was so 
high that it seemed to be looking over in astonish- 
ment at the performance below. It was not less 
than 2000 feet high. Of course we did not measure 
the height, it might have been 3000 feet. 

Nor was this the only wonderful thing at that 
place. A short distance from the road, maybe a 
hundred yards, a big boiling spring of hot water 
came out of the earth with enough force to bulge 
up in the center. We had crossed the stream made 
by it, in passing that way before, but did not know 
it was hot water. Nor did we know this time until 
next morning from our camp we could see a big 
smoke, and went down to find out the cause. The 
spring looked like the inside part of a large black 
caldron eight feet in diameter with a hole in the 
bottom. 

The water was too hot to hold one's hand in it 
longer than two seconds. My report in regard to 
the source of this supply of water will necessarily 
be incomplete, as we didn't have time to dig down 
to the big fire that did the heating act. About two 
hundred feet off I noticed a nice little stream of 
clear cool water trickling through the crevice in 
a rock. It was just about the right height from 
the ground, so I concluded to take a drink, but it 
only got part of the way to the swallow point. My 
first impression was of rotten eggs. Some people 
might like this kind of water if bottled up, and 
they had to pay twenty-five cents per bottle, but 
for my own part I would prefer a different brand. 

Eventually we reached Del Norte and struck 
camp about half a mile out from the city. Fortuna- 
tely a friendly looking Mexican was standing near 
his gate, and we asked him the privilege of turn- 
ing our burros in his pasture. "As you are pros- 
pectors it won't cost you anything," he replied, 
which was very kind of him. As it happened he 
knew the animals, and was glad they were in good 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 155 

hands. That night we visited the city to make a 
few purchases so as to be ready for an early start 
next morning. We passed a new building with many 
lights, and the sound of music and revelry on the 
inside and we stepped in to see what it meant. To 
our surprise we found a regular dance hall in full 
blast, and a motley crowd it was, consisting of men 
and women galore. Judging from the costume and 
deportment I think the Mexican element predom- 
inated. It was different, however, from the one 
we had formerly visited. There were various rooms 
set apart, one for faro, one for poker, one for the 
wheel of fortune, and one for roulette. Neither of 
us spoke a word to a single man or woman, in fact 
we were not neded as a factor in the success of 
the institution. 

There was a bridge across the river at this point, 
but at this time of the year when the waters were 
high there was an overflow about a hundred yards 
further along, which was both too deep and swift 
to ford. A large rope about a hundred feet long was 
stretched across, and a man in a skiff waited on 
the traveling public by pulling on the rope. But 
how to get our animals across was a difficult ques- 
tion to me. The ferryman assured us there would 
be no trouble by following his instructions which 
was easy to do. 

Taking our packs off he tied one end of a rope 
to the pack saddle, and one of us got in the skiff 
with him, holding the other end, and when half- 
way across the other one pushed the animal into 
the current. The ferryman pulled on his rope while 
the animal slued around and came out on the other 
side. Of course this process was followed with the 
other two animals. While crossing it dawned upon 
my mind that the ferryman was our old friend 
Plenry Adams. We had entirely lost sight of him 
for the past two years. 

This man Adams discovered a mine and named it 
Matilda Fletcher, after a young lady that gave a 
lecture of some kind in Georgetown. Either Bill 



156 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

Moore or Tom Johns paid him $10,000 and kept 
the balance of a $40,000 deal. He invested a few 
hundred dollars in a little cigar and tobacco stand 
on one of the side streets. I called several times 
to see him but he was always absent. There was a 
back door, locked all the time, supposed to be his 
private room, but as I learned later was used as 
a gambling den. In five months Henry lost in a 
manner, all his money and then dropped out of 
sight. He was now making some good money, 
and when he had enough for a "grub stake" would 
try it over. 

A journey of thirty-five miles lay before us, and 
as our baggage was reduced to a minimum in the 
way of supplies we put all on one burro and rode 
the other. No animal, as far as I know, moves 
with more ease to the rider than the burro. He has 
a kind of pacing movement that reminds one of 
being in a swing. The road all the way was smooth 
and level, not a single hill to climb, and only one 
branch on the route where we rested about an hour. 
We were passing through the lower part of the 
San Luis valley. South of us lay the Sangre De 
Cristo range, snowing we were still in the confines 
of the mountain regions. 

We reached Saguache about sundown and stop- 
ped in front of a store. The merchant came out 
and invited us to put our baggage in his store, and 
turn our stock in his pasture. There had developed 
a spirit of rivalry between this town and Del Norte 
as an "outfitting" place for parties going into the 
new mining country, and this gave the prospector 
favorable consideration. As the hotel only charged 
us $1.00 per day for board and lodging we con- 
cluded not to be in any extra hurry getting away, 
as it was a nice place to stay. 

Quite a big trial was going on at the courthouse 
— not much house — in which a Mexican was 
charged with some misdemeanor. As the witnesses 
were all Mexican and could not talk English it 
was necessary to have an interpreter. My interest 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 157 

in the trial was to hear the lawyer ask questions 
in English, and then watch the interpreter "jab- 
ber" awhile with the witness, and then answer back 
in English. The novelty of the thing made it in- 
teresting. Several large counties in the southern 
part of the teritory were occupied by Greasers, and 
the legislature had to provide interpreters for the 
benefit of the members elected from these counties. 
The Spanish language, as such, when spoken by a 
glib tongue sounds very nice, much more so than 
the German, French or English. 

We made our purchases that evening and next 
day went up the Saguache valley about twenty-five 
miles. Opposite our camp, across the creek, and 
about two miles distant, we could see what ap- 
peared to be holes in the high cliffs. With the glass 
we could see clearly enough they were holes, but 
could not tell whether made by Nature or by hand. 
I have regretted many times not spending at least 
one day of investigation. Possibly they had been 
used by the early Indians as a habitation and place 
of refuge from other tribes. 

There was a passably good wagon road all the 
way across the Continental Divide into the Gunni- 
son mines, and we expected a pleasant speedy trip. 
This is the route Fremont ought to have taken in 
order to find the low pass across the great divide 
that he was looking for when he went up the Rio 
Grande. Next day we met four men riding in a 
wagon and direct from the Gunnison. This was de- 
cidedly a fortunate meeting for us as they could 
give us definite information, which we had failed 
to obtain by asking others. 

They were armed both with guns and side arms, 
and told us we would not be able to reach the 
mining region without a fight with the Indians. 
They had no objections to parties coming out, but 
were on the war path against those going in. These 
Indians claimed the treaty included the upper part 
of the Gunnison, but not where the mines were lo- 
cated. This same trouble existed on the Animus 



158 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

when Chief Ouray went down there to setle it as 
previously mentioned. These men advised us to 
wait awhile until the trouble was settled. 

My past experience with the Indian, as a human 
being, gave me a very poor opinion of him, and that 
he placed a low value on the life of the white man. 
When we came to the fork of the road, we decided 
in about three seconds to take the left hand which 
led back to the head waters of the Animus. A few 
of the progressive citizens of Saguache had ten men 
at that time marking and building a road to the 
Animus, and when we finished was much better and 
at least fifty miles nearer, than the route via Del 
Norte. 

We had left the Saguache valley several miles 
back and were gradually ascending some higher 
altitude, in fact we pased the great divide on such 
an easy grade that we scarcely realized the fact. 
As I recall some of the events of this trip, I will 
mention crossing one stretch of ten miles with no 
trees or rocks, though covered with a kind of short 
grass. It was not a park in the usual meaning of 
that word, because there was no high frowning 
cliff to be seen. The road builders had put up a 
line of stakes to mark out the way to go. On reach- 
ing the far side a nice small stream crossed our 
route and as there was plenty of wood, water, and 
grass, we struck camp. 

We noticed along up and down this branch 
rather a peculiar growth different from anything I 
had ever seen before. It was more like a big stalk 
of some kind, than bush or sapling. They grow 
from twenty to thirty feet high without a single 
limb on them, though a bunch of leaves grew 
on top. They are four inches in diameter at the bot- 
tom, and three inches at the top. I cut three of 
them down and found they had a pith on the in- 
side, and was told by others that the pole when 
peeled and dried, was light and nearly as hard as 
bone. 

It seems Nature is always bountiful as well as 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 159 

generous in supplying the demands of her crea- 
tures, either creeping, flying or walking. She pro- 
vided this singular growth here, and here only, 
for the special benefit of the Indians, as teepee 
poles. They grew just the right size and length for 
that purpose, and used by a people unable to make 
or obtain them any other way. 
- In pursuing our journey, without expecting such 
a thing, we came to one of the agencies established 
by the government, where supplies of the various 
kinds were issued according to the terms of the 
treaty. Here we could see a number of these good- 
for-nothing scamps sitting and loafing around, and 
a short distance up the valley could see their tee- 
pees reminding one of a city, after a fashion. This 
was a fortunate arrangement between Uncle Sam 
and the Big Chief, especially the latter. Under the 
new deal his people belonged strictly to the aristo- 
cratic class, with plenty to eat and nothing to do 
but to organize excursion parties and hunting 
bouts. Like a rich man with a big income they 
could "laugh to scorn the ills of life, and be gay 
and happy still." It was easy enough to comply with 
one part of the treaty, that of drawing rations and 
supplies, but they were disposed to break over in 
other respects. Due to this disposition on their part 
we failed to visit the Gunnison mines. 

Merely by accident we camped one day at noon 
where an Indian trail crossed our road. Entirely 
unexpectedly a moving band of Indian passed with- 
in a hundred feet or so of our camp. Perhaps there 
were two hundred or more of them, old and young, 
male and female. This was one of the sights I was 
anxious to see. It took them fully half an hour to 
pass. The bucks were riding in front at an easy 
gait in single file, in fact they all passed that way, 
seemingly without the least bit of confusion. The 
squaws were all walking and looking after the 
pack animals. The teepee poles were fastened on 
in such a way that one end dragged on the ground 
behind the pack animal. A device of some character 



160 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

was fastened to these poles about five feet from the 
end in which the small papoose did the riding act, 
perhaps it was tied there. None of them paid the 
slightest attention to us, which met my hearty ap- 
proval, I am sure. It is part of the Indian's nature 
to be indifferent toward the white man or anything 
he does, except when he encroaches upon his hunt- 
ing ground. The chances are he would go to sleep 
while watching a display of fire works. We had no 
idea where they were going or whence they came. 

I am free to admit that after seeing so many 
of them, and looking at their savage faces, which 
bore the marks of a cruel nature, I formed even a 
more unfavorable opinion of them than formerly. 
I felt more inclined than ever to accept the com- 
mon western opinion, that the "only good Indian 
is a dead one." Several passed us that evening 
going the same way we were. This of itself was a 
little suspicious, considering the low opinion we 
had of them. Two or three were more liable to do 
a real mean thing than a large number. 

As the evening shades drew near we were glad 
to strike some lower levels. We crossed Saboia 
River (creek) on a bridge made by the road build- 
ers. The river took its name, I am told, from wild 
onions that grew there. On acount of the land 
being nearly level the creek was too deep to ford. 
On each side the grass was growing over waist 
high. That night we went down near the creek 
bank and spread our blankets on the tall grass. All 
through the night we could hear thudding sounds 
like some one pitching rocks in the water. On exa- 
mination next morning we found the banks were 
made slick by beavers sliding down into the water. 
Only a short distance below was a regular beaver 
dam. 

It was only three miles down to the Gunnison 
River forming a rich valley of several thousand 
acres, in my opinion suitable for wheat or other 
cereal growth. We followed the newly made road, 
which was through the woods above the river. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 161 

though near enough at times to hear the rushing 
waters. All along for ten miles the pine trees, per- 
haps a hundred or more, had been denuded of their 
bark as high as one could reach. On inquiring of 
others I learned that the squaws took it off to use 
as bread before the treaty. I can't vouch for the 
explanation, but can vouch for the trees being 
barkless. 

By making rather a long march that day we 
reached the forks of the Gunnison. For some dis- 
tance below, by the widening of the valley form- 
ing a park it was evident that we were approach- 
ing the forks. Late in the evening we passed by 
what semed to be an old camp with pieces of striped 
blankets and a few cooking vessels left behind. 
This of itself was very unusual, yet such things 
could happen. Here we overtook and camped near 
the road builders that night. It was a little like get- 
ting back into civilization once more to find white 
men that would speak back and give us some at- 
tention. 

That night, when we first visited their camp, I 
noticed the carcass of a beaver hanging up taking 
the cool night breeze. But it looked so much like 
a little baby that next morning when they offered 
us some of it as a breakfast food, I declined with 
thanks, in fact I was always a little tender about 
eating animal flesh. That night while sitting 
around the camp fire I asked Mr. Hodgkiss, who 
was in charge of the road hands, in regard to the 
old camp we had passed about a mile below. He was 
a little surprised that I had not heard the events 
connected with this camp while in Saguache, that 
it was the chief topic of conversation four months 
ago. 

As he related the events pertaining to this old 
camp they semed like some big ghost story, or 
more like a part of the history of Captain Kidd 
and John A. Murrell combined. I will try to be as 
brief as possible in relating the story he told which 
was corroborated later by others. The story is 



162 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

about as follows : A company of four men, no doubt 
prospectors, were taking their chances in finding a 
new mining region. They were under the leader- 
ship of a half-breed, part Indian and part Mexican, 
with the duplicity and cunning of both races. 

After wandering around through the mountain 
defiles, being either lost or so arranged by inten- 
tion, found a resting place and escape from star- 
vation in the Uncompahgre valley, the home 
grounds of Ouray the big chief, where he kept his 
ponies through the long winter, also a herd of 
sheep and goats. This plateau was maybe fifty 
miles long by ten miles wide, and was sheltered by 
high ranges of mountains, making it a fine winter 
resort. About the first or middle of March they con- 
cluded to pass over onto the head waters of the 
Gunnison, which they did, and camped at the place 
about a mile below. Under the plea of saving his 
own life from starvation this half-bred knocked 
his companions in the head with a hatchet, one at 
a time and used their flesh as a cannibal. After this 
horrible deed he passed over the Cochatopa Range, 
which we had passed a few days previous, and on 
down to Saguache. He had plenty of money and 
spent it freely. In telling of his exploits through the 
mountains he failed to tell the same tale every time 
which led men to suspect he had killed his com- 
rades for their money. He was arrested, put in jail, 
but broke out in some way and no trace of him 
had been found up to that time. The road builders 
found the camp as he described it, but the mur- 
dered men no doubt were thrown in the river and 
the high Water from melting snow had washed them 
down in to the gorge below. 

This gruesome tale might have been left out of 
these memoirs as I was not directly connected with 
the tragical events. But it serves to illustrate what 
might befall any prospector that risks his life too 
far in any field of uncertainty. We know nothing 
of these men that lost their "lives only that they 
had some money. Seeking gold (which is a synonym 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 163 

of wealth) and the love of adventure, induced these 
men to undertake this perilous journey. This same 
incentive caused Baker and those with him to go 
beyond the bounds of safety, and hundreds of others 
were still doing the same thing one way or an- 
other. 

Next morning Mr. Hodgekiss moved his camp 
six miles further up the left fork of the river. It 
was twenty miles yet to the head of the Animus. 
As this was an extra nice place to recuperate we 
remained there a whole week prospecting up both 
forks of the river, also to give the road builders 
more time to finish their work. We went up the 
right hand branch first and found several fairly 
good looking mines. Putting one or two shots in 
each one the "blue blaze" told us it was not the 
kind of mineral we were expecting to find. My ex- 
perience had taught me there was no use wasting 
time on low grade mineral. 

On the last day up this branch we went higher 
up on the mountain, even above timber line, 
hoping to find a vein or croppings of some kind in- 
dicating a higher grade of mineral. Out on top of 
one of the higher points or peaks, with the aid of 
the glass we could see in the distance the winding 
course of the Uncompahgre valley, and where its 
waters emptied into a larger river. Less than half 
a mile up the left fork there was a beautiful lake 
some three miles long and one mile wide. A lake in 
the mountains is something of a novelty, though 
in my travels I have seen several. 

About a hundred feet below the lower end of 
this lake there is a chasm through the solid rock 
fifteen feet wide and thirty feet deep, and the lake 
maintained its same level by flowing through this 
fissure. Keeping the road on the south side of the 
lake we stepped across a nice little stream of clear 
water. It was about my time to "take a drink" but 
the first" gulp made me wish there was some way 
to get it back. Vinegar sweetened with green per- 
simons might give an idea how it tasted. The as- 



164 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

tringent effect was due to a strong solution of 
alum. This was not the first time I had been de- 
ceived in taking a sip of what I thought was 
"Adam's ale" in its purest form. We followed this 
little streamlet up the mountain nearly a mile to 
its source. It was not large enough to be called a 
branch. A very short distance above the source of 
the branch, we came to a freaky section that baf- 
fles my power of description. It did not consist of 
ordinary earth or rock, one or both such as I had 
been walking over up to this time. From appear- 
ance it might be a mixture of wheat bran and saw- 
dust mixed together under a pressure, and at places 
not a very high pressure. 

Through a spirit of curiosity we walked out over 
this strange formation maybe half a mile and came 
to a place, where from the sound of our footsteps 
the earth below might be holow, and perhaps the 
crust not very thick. A conclusion was rapidly 
reached that this was a good place to be far awa}' 
from. By no means was it a good location to esta- 
blish a health resort. If some wise-acre suggested 
it was the remnant of an extinct volcano which had 
been in active operation two million years ago, I 
might accept the plausibility, but I would want to 
know how he knew it was true. It would hardly be 
reasonable to think that Nature was holding this 
vast deposit of raw material in a large hopper, so to 
speak, for the purpose of draining out a little 
measley branch of alum water, yet that seemed to 
be the only result. On reaching terra firma we con- 
cluded to leave explorations of this character for 
some one else. Our object was to see things, and if 
possible, to find a mine with enough gold or silver 
to pay for working. With these two objects in view 
we bent our way out into higher altitudes, where 
by the aid of the glass we could see the high cliffs 
around Wagon Wheel Gap not more than forty 
miles distant, though a rough unexplored country 
intervening. 

Next day we followed the road to a point above 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 165 

the lake and prospected the mountains on each side 
of the stream and made one discovery on each 
side, and had some hope that they might prove 
valuable, but such was not the case. That evening, 
perhaps just at the right time, we witnessed a 
sight few people on earth have ever seen. Out 
across the smooth waters of the lake we saw what 
at first we thought were ducks, but the glass 
seemed to bring them up to us and we could easily 
see they were beavers. On a rough estimate I think 
there was between one and two hundred. We could 
see them in a manner clear across the lake and 
nearly in every direction. Seemingly they were 
divided in bunches, sometimes swimming in single 
file, and then in double columns as though out 
on dress parade. Occasionally we could see a 
general mix-up and a splashing of water; then 
they would disappear and rise again not far 
away. Apparently they were catching their eve- 
ning meal consisting of bugs and grasshoppers. 
This lake was too remote, otherwise, it might have 
been a trapper's paradise. 

Speaking of grasshoppers reminds me that I have 
seen them in various parts of the mountains, fly- 
ing in the air so thick, that the sun seemed to be 
shining through a hazy atmosphere. It is wonder- 
ful the distance they can be seen overhead with 
their myriad of glistening wings. When exhausted 
they fall to the earth, some of them in swift 
flowing streams and are washed down into 
eddie waters, where I am told the squaws 
gather them in large quantities and in some way 
prepare them for winter food. And why not? Like 
cattle and other ruminating animals they are only 
one remove from the grass or other vegetable mat- 
ter. 

We prospected, high and low, on both sides of 
the mountain below the forks of the Gunnison. As 
we were the first prospectors in this section of the 
country we were very anxious to make at least one 
valuable discovery, say three or four hundred dol- 



166 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

lars to the ton. We could afford to stay with a 
mine of this character and cease further rambling 
which was wearing to both the physical and ner- 
vous system. It would have given us the privilege 
of naming the new mining district, also the right 
to ask the Governor of the territory to authorize 
us to make records of mining claims, and records 
of other kinds. This might have been done by 
virtue of the eight or ten discoveries already made, 
but the "blue blaze" told us the mines were not 
worth staying with them. If men received credit 
according to their effort we might have been able 
to show a good balance sheet. It is a generally 
known fact that kissing comes by favor and not 
by merit. There was nothing left for us only to 
fold our tent and seek pastures new, leaving behind 
us reminiscences of an eventful week. 

At the foot of the divide between the head waters 
of the two rivers the Animus and the Gunnison 
we found the encampment of the road builders. In 
a mining country the prospector is about as much 
at home one place as another if he has wood, water 
and grass, so we concluded to give them a few 
days longer to complete the work, and during that 
time we scoured that part of the country in search 
of the needle in the haystack. One day we passed 
over the Continental onto the head of Pole creek. 
We had an idea that maybe valuable mines might 
be found in higher altitudes as we had failed to 
find them of that character in the lower regions. 

While in camp near the builders I told Mr. 
Hodgekiss about our discoveries down at the forks 
where we first met them, and showed him our spe- 
cimens of mineral, but did not tell him why we 
left. At the point where the road crosses the divide 
within a radius of five or six miles you will reach 
the head waters of four rivers each one flowing in 
a different direction. The Rio to the South, the Ani- 
mus to the West, the Uncompahgre to the North, 
the Gunnison to the East. We had the distinction 
of being the first travelers to pass over the new 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 167 

road, which brought us on the head waters of the 
Animus. It was about fifteen miles down to Bullion 
City, where we left, yet we had traveled over two 
hundred and fifty miles to reach our destination. 
Instead of a one day trip, we had been over a 
month, with many adventures and uncertainties. 

In our new camp on the Animus we were sur- 
rounded in a measure by rough and rugged cliffs, 
and if they contained valuable mineral we were 
ready to greet them with brawny arms. For several 
days we climbed over and around them with no 
success, so we decided to move across the divide 
onto the head of the Uncompahgre. There were 
about ten miles here unclaimed by the Indians, and 
included in the treaty. Very few if any prospectors 
had been in this particular locality. We picked out 
a possible way of going before starting. 

Individually I was imbued with the idea that 
there might and ought to be valuable mines in this 
vast mineral-bearing region. We were not spe- 
cially hanging around where others had made dis- 
coveries, but were willing to go even where others 
had never been. At first we were favorably im- 
pressed with the location though it was rugged 
and precipitous. After making two or three prom- 
ising discoveries we found our drills were too 
dull for use, which forced us to build another fur- 
nace, as previously described. We added half a dozen 
or more samples to our list, with labels and loca- 
tions. A few of them contained the so-called "gray 
copper" which according to rules in metallurgy 
ought to be rich in silver. I felt a hesitancy to apply 
the test that would decide their value. Our whole 
year's work, in a measure, depended upon the re- 
sults. In all probability this was our last chance to 
establish a new mining district, for the summer 
season was rapidly passing, and something like 
three hundred and fifty miles with high mountain 
ranges intervened between our home and present 
location. Traveling in the mountains at best is a 
slow progress, but with deep snow it is simply im- 
possible, especially with pack animals. 



168 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

One entire evening was spent, in order to be 
extra careful, in making these assays. One by one 
I watched the 'blue blaze" convert them into thin 
air. It is said that disappointment sinks the heart 
of man, but it was no new thing for me, in fact I 
had grown use to it through a series of defeated ex- 
pectations during the last eight years. However, 
we were not yet ready to throw up the "sponge". 
It wouldn't do to get lazy or indifferent, for that 
would be a reflection on our high calling as pros- 
pectors, in which we took some pride. So we de- 
cided to widen our circle and maybe we could see 
something if we couldn't find anything. 

It was our intention to go down stream some 
five miles, keeping well up on the mountain above 
it, for the purpose of taking in a view of the much 
noted valey below. The beautiful landscape, with 
all its suroundings, was of itself enough to repay 
us for the long walk, but this was not all. During 
the day's rambling a sight presented itself not down 
on the program. Without the least expectation on 
our part we came to a charming little cascade, 
maybe thirty feet high fed by a snow bank, higher 
up the mountain, which had been in the business, 
no doubt, these many years. 

In bold relief there stood out before us in all its 
flashing beauty, a regular pyramid of pyrites, per- 
haps ten feet in height and six feet on its base, 
gradually tapering from bottom to the top. While 
thousands of the little facets glinted in the rays 
of a noonday sun, sprays of limpid water fell upon 
its uncrowned head. Just behind the falls and 
on each side we could see the same kind of min- 
eral. Although it had the appearance of bur- 
nished gold yet it contained only sulphate of iron, 
and practically without value. At the risk of get- 
ting wet, with my hammer I chipped off a nice 
little sample. This brilliant statue might be useful 
and appropriate in some Fairy Land exhibition, 
otherwise it is only a thing of beauty. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 169 

As a sequel or rather a winding-up of our career 
for the season we traced out a mammoth mineral 
vein forty feet in width. The trend of the vein is 
along on top of the divide between the two rivers. 
The ground is in a manner smooth and easy to 
walk over as there are no trees, shrubs, or cliffs. 
We spent nearly the entire day chipping off speci- 
mens at different places and examining them with 
our magnifying glass. We followed this king of 
mineral veins more than two miles, over to a lower 
level where there was more grass and in fact a 
better place to camp. If anyone doubts the accu- 
racy of this statement I will take great pleasure in 
pointing out its location, also the pyrites statue, 
if he wishes to make an investment in either or 
both. 

For several days the burros had been staying 
around in camp more than usual, which was their 
way of telling us that their feed was getting scarce, 
and it was hard to find a good place to picket the 
pony, so we decided to move at once. A short dis- 
tance from our new camp we could see what ap- 
peared to be an extra high peak, which seemed to 
be only four or five miles distant. Early one morn- 
ing with pick and hammer we started and it took us 
all of five hours to reach the top, perhaps ten miles 
instead of five. Our camp was on the upper edge of 
timber line which usually marks the 11,000 feet 
altitude. In my opinion we ascended not less than 
5,000 feet higher that day, which would be nearly 
2,000 feet higher than Pike's Peak, considered the 
highest point in the United States. 

My comand of words and capacity of arranging 
them so as to convey an adequate idea of the im- 
posing grandeur as seen from this lofty height will 
fall short of doing the subject any kind of justice. 
We were not only above timber line but beyond 
the sight of timber. Spread out before our vision, 
in every direction, even by the aid of a glass, 
nothing could be seen but mountain ranges with 
piercing peaks here and there, like steeples in a 



170 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

large city. A panoramic view covering hundreds 
of miles far and near with deep shaded spots and 
streaks that might be caused by rivers and parks. 

All this vast section now before us was the 
hidden home of gold, silver and other metals, which 
future generations for a thousand years to come 
will not be able to explore and determine their 
value. While we were about to retire from the 
field of effort, yet we had only scratched at a few 
places, so to speak. We built a small rock house 
about four feet high, leaving a window near the 
top, in which we placed a smooth rock with the 
name Shelton engraved upon it, also the date. Some 
one might have been there before us, but I have 
my doubts. The only expedient and sensible thing 
that presented itself was to turn our heads in a 
homeward direction. Before starting I rode down 
to Bullion City to enquire for letters and mail 
others. We sold our picks and shovels for more 
than they cost us, our mining munition had been 
used up, and our grub supply was getting low, so 
the pack animals would have a much lighter load. 
We made the trip through to Saguache, a hundred 
and twenty miles in four days, on an average of 
thirty miles per day. We camped the first night at 
the forks of the Gunnison where we found several 
prospectors that had come through in wagons. Mr. 
Hodgekiss had spread the report that mineral had 
been found in quantity at these forks. No one asked 
us in regard to the quality of the mineral, nor did 
we tell them we knew its low grade character. One 
or two of the men that had worked on the road 
knew us, and that was all they cared to find out. 

Our route from Saguache lay through the San 
Luis valley noted for its beauty and fertility. It is 
a hundred miles long and forty wide, with a lake of 
some size in the lower end. While in camp late in 
the evening, incidentally we looked down the valley 
and saw a horseman apparently riding very rapidly. 
But the strange thing was that he seemed to be 
up in the air about twenty degrees above the level. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 171 

We quickly brought out our glass and to our sur- 
prise coud see the waters of the lake far boyond 
and at the same height. We were camping on a 
small stream where large cotton wood trees were 
growing. I suppose the atmosphere and other con- 
ditions were favorable to produce a mirage: At any 
rate it was a thing worth seeing, nor did we have 
to climb a mountain to see it, either. 

After passing through the gap betwen the Co- 
chatopa Hills, part of the Continental divide, and 
the Sangre de Cristo range, we noticed a left hand 
fork to the road, but we did not know whether it 
went somewhere or nowhere and then stopped, 
but all the same it would have been a hundred miles 
or more nearer home by this road. Eventually we 
passed through Manitou and camped a short dis- 
tance beyond in the celebrated Garden of the Gods, 
where we remained two days. It was about a hun- 
dred miles to Denver, with a nice smooth road all 
the way, and we could have easily made the trip 
in four days, and from that place the railroad ex- 
tended within ten miles of Georgetown. We were 
now on the edge of the plains and it seemed almost 
like summer time. It would look like "going back" 
on our job to go in too early, in fact we might 
have remained on the Animus, or at the forks of 
the Gunnison two weeks longer, if there had been 
any occasion for doing so. To relieve the situation 
a "wild goose" notion entered our minds that would 
serve to round out our excursion trip. 

In telling the events of our trip my narrative 
would be incomplete if I fail to call special atten- 
tion to the Garden of the Gods. It is a level area 
of fifty acres more or less with rough grotesque 
rocks protruding from the ground, ranging from 
ten to fifteen feet high. Some of them are round- 
like in form, giving one an idea of a sculptor's 
model in its early stage. By walking around the 
supposed statue, at a certain distance, and catch- 
ing the proper angle, also with a liberal supply of 
imagination, the rough outline of the human spe- 



172 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

cies may be detected, consisting of the eyes, nose, 
mouth, chin and other parts of the body. The In- 
dians called the place Manitou, which meant in 
their language a home of their gods. The entrance 
to this so-called garden, from the plains, was by a 
road between two large rocks. One of them was 
not less than three hundred feet long, a hundred 
feet wide and over two hundred feet high. Looking 
around we found a place where by using caution 
and muscular exertion we could ascend at least 
part of the way. Perhaps others had been that way 
before. When we reached a point something like a 
hundred feet high, there was a rather small level 
space, giving us a fine view of the plains. There 
was a narrow walk-way around to the far end of 
the huge rock, but I was afraid to even stand up 
where we were, yet Daniel walked to the far end, 
and then out on top where he remained so long I 
was uneasy about him. From our high perch we 
could see Colorado Springs, and could count the 
houses if we had time, as it was only four miles. 
From appearance there might have been 2000 in- 
habitants. 

Manitou was a town of four stores and. half 
dozen hotels or big boarding houses, in which the 
"idle rich" spent their time in playing checkers, 
billiards and drinking fine liquor. If I had a barrel 
of money I would be with them, there or some- 
where else. There is a beautiful soda spring here, 
walled up with rock. The water bulges up in the 
center, and the thousands of bursting bubbles as 
they flow toward the wall present a sight worth 
seeing. Nice pavilions with easy seats and swings 
for the half sick and convalescent, were some of 
the attractions. We found very few springs in the 
mountains, it was either snow water or nothing. 
In all my tramps and travels in the mountains I 
never saw a snake. These two things, snakes and 
springs, were conspicuous for their absence. Colo- 
rado Springs was also noted as a health and plea- 
sure resort. All along the base of the mountains 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 173 

the air was pure, being free from dust and malaria. 
It was claimed by parties that there was in the 
air an element called "ozone", which gave health 
and vigor to the body, but I am not stating this as 
a fact. 

In a casual way we met an old mountaineer, not 
so old in years, who had been a kind of scout or 
guide to exploring parties until he knew many of 
the trails as well as roads. He told us by taking 
the left hand fork after passing through Cochatopa 
Pass we would have shortened our distance to 
Georgetown over a hundred miles. By going back 
he said about twenty miles to the edge of 
South Park there is a pathway leading all the way 
to Georgetown, crossing the road from Denver to 
Fairplay about ten miles east of Halls Gulch. As 
that suited our "ticket" exactly we offered him 
$5.00 to show us the trail, and that suited his 
"ticket." Next morning about sunrise he rode into 
our camp and found us ready to start, having pur- 
chased two weeks' supplies the evening before. A 
few miles north from the base of Pikes' Peak he 
pointed out rather a dim trail, which we followed 
all next day when late in the evening it ceased to 
exist. He was kind enough on parting to tell us if 
the trail played out, keep due north and we would 
be sure to find the road, a fact we already knew. 
We were thirty miles or more from the designated 
crossing of the trail and road. While we had lost 
the trail, if such existed, yet we were not lost in a 
strict meaning of the word, for we had no uneasi- 
ness about finding our way out. 

The section of country we were passing through 
had a peculiar grandeur and wildness which I will 
not attempt to describe, though it was well worth 
seeing. Under different conditions we might have 
done a little prospecting, for there was no good 
reason why mines might not exist here as well as 
other localities. Fortunately we had with us a 
pocket compass which always told the truth about 
the direction toward the North, though at times 



174 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

if I had trusted my own judgment we might have 
traveled in a different direction. It was impossible 
to go in anything like a straight line, due to the 
rugged nature of the country, and more than one 
high peak that had to be surrounded. It took us 
four days to travel the last supposed thirty miles, 
and no doubt we went sixty miles in doing so. 

One feature of our different encampments I have 
failed to mention up to the present time. When we 
struck camp, if only one night or a month, before 
retiring we broke pine boughs and spread them 
on the ground shingle fashion with the broken part 
next to the ground. By spreading over this a pair 
of heavy blankets we had a bed like a spring mat- 
tress and as soft as a cushion. There was a kind of 
aroma from the pine boughs which was somni- 
fic in its effect. With the twinkling stars above, 
and the moaning winds in the pinery, there was no 
use for any one to "rock the cradle." No matter 
how much toil during the day, with a good night 
of sleep the muscles of the body are restored as 
well as the activity of the mind. Nature requires 
this much of all her children. 

It was yet forty miles to Georgetown, and then 
some more, Avith rugged mountains all the way, 
but the trail was some better and easier to find. 
We made our last camp at the far end of a nice 
little lake, something near a mile long and half a 
mile wide, and about fifteen miles from George- 
town. At the other end of the lake we saw in pass- 
ing a few hunters in camp. I am unable to say what 
they were hunting. On hearing the rapid yelping 
of dogs we looked up the trail, and saw two coal 
black grayhounds in close pursuit of a big jack 
rabbit. They passed about ten feet from us at full 
speed. It was a pretty race but too soon over. I 
think the jack outrun the hounds. 

Next day in the afternoon we drove up in front 
of the "little old cabin" and made a deposit of our 
plunder. At first in the livery stable our animals 
refused to eat the dry hay and pint of oats allowed 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 175 

them. We went at once to see a party that owned 
a train of pack animals, and after some parley 
closed a sale at $5.00 more than we paid for them, 
though we ought to have received more, as they 
were in fine shape. The burros had been so true 
and faithful all the time that I felt toward them 
like I did toward the muley oxen I had driven 
across the plains. Part of next day we spent in 
looking for Tom Johns, as Daniel was ready to 
make his report to him as a partner. He left about 
the same time we did and no one had ever heard 
from him, in fact he never was heard from even 
at a later period. He had plenty of money and 
might be doing well, though plenty of money often 
leads a man into trouble, it depends upon the man. 

It seemed to me that I was getting nearly to 
the end of my row, and no use trying to go any 
further. I was now past thirty-six years of age 
and a few gray hairs forcibly reminded me that 
old age, if nothing else, would eventually claim 
its own. All my thoughts and plans for the last 
eight years had been in line that I would in some 
way own in whole or part a valuable paying mine ; 
however, I was not in the habit of building air- 
castles. While this plan, so to speak, or rather 
hope as it was, seemed both laudable and possible, 
yet it had failed to materialize or reached a tan- 
gible shape. Continuity may be one of the cardinal 
virtues, yet it is not prudent to give it a life long 
test. 

My first big failure was in my lack of efforts to 
obtain a better education. This failure was caused 
by the Civil War, as previously mentioned, and now 
I was about ready to abandon the idea of recouping 
this loss by getting rich quick, yet there was no 
use in hanging a dark cloud over the future. From 
the time we broke camp on the Uncampahgre I 
had been seriously thinking there might be some 
other pursuit in life that would bring better re- 
sults. Though I said nothing about it, yet the time 
had come to mention the matter to Daniel and let 



176 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

him know my decision ; also to test his ideas in 
regard to leaving the country. He was eight years 
my junior and could afford to spend a few more 
years chasing the rainbow, so he decided to remain 
a while longer. I explained to him that part of my 
object in returning to our native home was con- 
tingent upon certain events which might happen, 
and then again they might not. In case they did, 
my life would be spent in a different channel, and 
my career in the mountains would be over for all 
time to come. Under these uncertain conditions 
the cabin and all my mining interests would belong 
to him, and I would send him a deed to that effect 
later. 

At this particular time there was no lingering 
doubt in my mind that Harmon would pay the 
$1,800. and over he had collected under the power 
of attorney I had given him. With the mineral spe- 
cimens nicely packed in a box for that purpose, I 
was prepared to make a report to Judge Harmon 
and Mr. Colins. In taking the specimens out, one at 
a time, I gave them a description of its location, 
interspersing my remarks with various things in 
regard to the rough features of the country. Seem- 
ingly they were both very much interested, and also 
highly pleased with my successs in making disco- 
veries. From their view of the enterprise all we 
had to do was to follow up what had been done 
in order to make big money. They both paid the 
amount due me, but my report was not finished. 
The most important part of the report was yet to 
make, though Mr. Colins wished to defer the matter 
until after banking hours, and then he could give 
it more attention. On meeting a second time I in- 
formed them that I carried with me all the time a 
blowpipe, and the ingredients for making a test 
of any mineral that might be found. That I would 
not consider myself properly equipped as a pros- 
pector without some way of knowing the value of 
a piece of ore. I then told them that I had made a 
careful assay, not only of these specimens, but also 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 177 

other specimens obtained from mines discovered 
by other parties, and that they were all without 
any exception low grade mineral. 

In view of this fact I confessed to them that I 
was greatly disappointed with our venture, and that 
I had about made up my mind to return to my 
native home and give up all further mining efforts. 
It seems strange that they did not accept the im- 
portance of the fact that our ore was low grade 
in the same light I did. Possibly they doubted my 
ability to make even an approximate assay, though 
did not say so, at any rate they contended that it 
would not be justice to them or myself to get "in 
sight of the game and then quit the hunt," as they 
put it. In the conversation, which was a friendly 
discussion, in regard to our future progress in the 
new mining country, I learned their plans was to 
form a Stock Company embracing all the mines I 
had discovered. Out of the proceeds in sale of stock 
part would be set aside for developing the property 
and the balance retained for the benefit of the ori- 
ginal owners. Judge Harmon was a good lawyer 
and knew how to manipulate a scheme of this cha- 
racter. I noticed one thing in particular, they never 
mentioned the fact that our mineral was low grade. 
I had told them the truth about it one time, and 
there was no use making myself a nuisance by 
continually referring to it. 

Both these gentlemen were men of some wealth, 
or at least I thought so, and doubtless had influence 
with others of that kind, which of itself is worth 
a good deal. Their judgment in fact might be better 
than my own. Making a second detour through the 
country would be far less labor than the first one, 
for I had already climbed many of the high peaks, 
and no use to repeat that part of the program. 
The mines were already located, and besides all 
this we could ride both going and coming which 
made a big difference. 

A Georgetown paper published two letters I had 
written it in regard to the country, which they had 



178 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

read. The plan they had in view was for me 
when the season opened, to do some more work 
on two or three of the best looking mines and ship 
them a box of the mineral, say fifty or a hundred 
pounds, and write them letters every week or two 
in regard to the progress I was making, and also 
the mining interest of the country in general, but 
not to mention the formation of a stock company, 
they would attend to that at their end of the line. 
As this was extra duty and responsibility on my 
part, they proposed to pay a third each of all ex- 
pense including my wages at $6.00 per day, instead 
of $4.00 as formerly. 

To the casual observer it may seem that there 
was an element of fraud connected with this plan, 
but to parties speculating in the result of mining 
ventures it was known, if not they would soon find 
out, that mining was a risky business. It might 
be rated as a species of honest gambling, where the 
chances of failure were at least ten, against one in 
favor of success. Under this arrangement, as sug- 
gested, there was no chance for me to lose any- 
thing, unless failing to make a large amount in 
the deal could be considered a loss, which of course 
would be an unfair construction of the word. 

If I returned to my old home, with all its fond 
memories, I might feel as I did on getting home 
from the war. After spending two days and nights 
there at that time an occupation presented itself 
and that ended my visit, and no doubt it would be 
the same thing over. Considering these and other 
uncertain conditions surrounding my future course 
I concluded to accept their proposition, and we en- 
tered into a written agreement to that effect. As 
this was a matter of more than usual importance to 
me at the time I have taken more space to detail 
the particulars than was intended. When this bu- 
siness was disposed of, at my first opportunity I 
asked Judge Harmon about the money he had col- 
lected for me in my absence. To my great surprise 
I learned from him that he had used it along- with 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 179 

his own in building another residence of a more 
expensive style, which was now in process of build- 
ing and nearly completed. Of course he knew as 
well as I did that it was very poor business to use 
another man's money without his consent, and I 
had no hesitancy in telling him so. His rather lame 
excuse that he thoughrit better, and that I would 
so consider it, to have my money out at interest, 
than in my pocket or laying idle in some bank. I 
told him on general principles this was true enough, 
yet I preferred to handle my own money and make 
my own investments. 

My disappointment was not so much a want of 
confidence in the Judge's honesty, integrity or sol- 
vency, as in the fact that I wanted to show my 
money to my father and mother, and perhaps to 
one or two others. Possibly it was better for me 
financially in the long run, but a man can stand 
straighter and walk "pearter" with a thousand or 
two dollars in his pocket than he can with only a 
few hundred. At any rate there was no use to kick, 
squirm or complain for that would only make mat- 
ters worse. However, we parted on friendly terms, 
yet I could not help feeling a little grouchy. As 
my trip back in the mountains was about five 
months off, I was in no great hurry in starting 
back home, in fact ought to have put it off another 
year under the circumstances, no doubt about that. 
While in this quandary over the proper thing to do 
I happened to meet my old friend Rogers on the 
street. He and his family had been my near neigh- 
bor for many years. When he sold his mine he spent 
part of the $50,000 for a ranch about six miles 
out from Denver. He insisted on my going home 
tvith him to see his farm, which I did. 

He owned about six hundred acres below the 
supply ditch, divided off into fields to suit his pur- 
poses. He showed me one area of about 200 acres 
from which he saved 6,000 bushels of wheat. It is 
said the finest flour in the world is made from 
wheat grown in this section. His land below the 



180 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

ditch was in a high state of cultivation on which 
many kind of vegetables grew to a high degree of 
perfection, and found a ready market in Denver. 
Among other things he owned a fine herd of sheep 
and some young cattle. He pointed out to me that 
the land above the ditch was not worth $1.00 per 
acre while that below would easily bring $100.00 
per acre. He did very little work himself, yet his 
net income ranged between five and eight thousand 
dollars per year. 

Traveling across the plains, sitting on a cushion 
seat, and pulled by an engine is quite a different 
thing from crossing with a wagon train pulled by 
slow-moving oxen, and every man doing his own 
walking. If any one refuses to believe there is a 
big difference let him try it. Looking out of the 
window of the moving train, at times I could see 
the print of the old road we had traveled. When we 
reached a proper distance by keeping a sharp look- 
out I saw the place where we fought the Indians, 
and further along where we buried one of our com- 
rades who had been scalped. 

During the trip a rather amusing episode occur- 
red in the shape of a race between the train and a 
small herd of antelopes, perhaps thirty in number. 
It was hardly intended as a special diversion for 
the passengers, yet they enjoyed the race all the 
same. Going in the same direction and about one 
hundred and fifty yards apart, it was nip and tuck 
which one went the fastest. From the baggage car 
we could see and hear the rapid firing of magazine 
rifles not carried for that purpose, but specially for 
general protection. We could see the animals fall 
and knew some of them were being killed. The 
train stopped, most of the passengers and the 
train crew brought in four of them and they were 
put in the baggage car. It might seem this was 
taking an unfair advantage of the contest. 

Early in the morning by going under part of 
St. Louis the train stopped at the big depot. Walk- 
ing up the street I saw a sign hung out, "Board 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 181 

$1.00 per week." It had always been a mystery to 
me how so many people in a big city managed to 
make a living, maybe I could find out right here. 
The proprietor, a healthy looking German, said the 
bell will ring now in a few minutes. As soon as 
the signal was given about twenty "bummy" look- 
ing men passed back to what I supposed was the 
dining room, and I followed the procession. They 
quietly arranged themselves around a long table 
each man helping himself. 

There was nothing on the table except a lot of 
brown looking bread and cold half-cooked beef, 
which, perhaps the butcher couldn't sell, and a 
bucket of water with one dipper. There was good 
order, no pushing or loud talking, perhaps this was 
according to the rule. I was standing back looking 
on without any intention of joining "Gideon's band" 
when the proprietor came around and said to me, 
"You can eat with me and my family," for which 
I paid him twenty-five cents and it was well worth 
it for I was hungry. But I had seen and learned 
enough for one time, and decided to change my 
location. From there I went to the Southern Hotel, 
which they were building when I was there eight 
years before, and as it was to be absolutely fire- 
proof. I had some curiosity to see it. The charges 
there was $4.00 per day, but the difference in price 
was no greater than the difference in other respects. 
This palatial edifice was built of iron and stone. 
The sills, joists and rafters were made of iron. The 
walls, floors, stairways and bannisters were made 
of stone in fact there was nothing but chairs, tables 
and bedding that would burn. I remained there 
three days looking over the city, however, not with 
a view of buying even a smal part of it. 

When convenient and not in a hurry I always 
traveled by water. To me there was a peculiar 
charm and fascination in this mode of transit. Due 
to this penchant I took passage on a boat bound 
for Memphis, and maybe further. It was a slow 
way of getting there, but it was a pleasant one 



182 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

and beat walking. At times we were hung up on 
account of heavy fog, and at other times stuck in 
a sand bar, and to avoid this a man sat on the prow 
of the boat throwing a plumbline. When the chan- 
nel was less than six feet a tinkling sound of a 
bell could be heard back in the engine room. When 
the depth was greater than ten feet he would sing 
out "mark twain." I have been told this is where 
Clemmons got his pseudonym as a writer — mean- 
ing deep water. 

On a trip of this character, which lasted a week 
or more, a number of both amusing and interesting 
events occurred, which are still fresh in my mind, 
but will not try to mention them at present. We 
could feel the pulsating effect of a warmer breeze 
as each day brought us further south. While on 
passenger deck we could frequently see, while 
passing some island, large flocks of cranes and 
wild geese. Attention was called one day to a large 
buck, at least he had large horns, that had crossed 
our line of headway, swimming from the Arkansas 
side. A party of hunters on board fired a dozen 
shots or more, but without effect, for we saw him 
make a safe landing on the Kentucky side and dis- 
appear. 

While on the train from Memphis I formed an 
idea to pass myself off as a stranger when I reached 
Larkinsville. I had barely touched the ground and 
had taken a few steps when several parties came 
up and called me by name, there was no use trying 
to play off as a stranger. Of course I was glad to 
see my friends and relatives, especially my dear 
father and mother. It might be to tedious to tell 
the consecutive events that occurred, or to men- 
tion the various changes that had taken place, nor 
would it be in line with this part of my narrative 
even if I wished to do so. 

Part of my object in returning at this time, may 
be the greater part, was to see a lady — Miss Dora 
Pittman. On leaving eight years previous my agree- 
ment with her was to return in three years. By 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 183 

looking back through these pages the cause can be 
seen why I did not comply with this promise. She 
asked to be released from this engagement, which 
was right, and in justice to her was granted. With 
me "absence had only caused the heart to grow 
fonder," but she might have drifted into a different 
channel, where the thoughts and feelings had 
changed. This is the meaning of the uncertainty 
formerly referred to. 

To be brief and concise in relating this most im- 
portant event in all my earthly career will say 
that on February 24th, 1875 we were married. My 
purpose in life has been to give her as little cause 
for regret as possible, considering my imperfec- 
tions, for I never posed as a saint. The latter part 
of April I started on my second trip to the moun- 
tains, and about the first of May found me in Den- 
ver ready to comply with my part of the contract 
as previously agreed upon. My partners were still 
hopeful of our success. 

My trip and wages were both to commence on 
the first of May. I thought more of my wages than 
I did of the prospects of making big money. The 
very idea of men investing their money without a 
thorough investigation seemed to me absurd, but 
possibly my ideas were wrong. Just how to get back 
into the mines was a problem left for me to solve. 
I might buy a pony and ride through alone in about 
ten days, but traveling and camping alone in the 
mountain wilds is not a thing to inspire pleasant 
dreams. I remained around Denver several days 
and found several parties expecting to make the 
trip but not ready to start. 

While in this dilemma I concluded to pay George- 
town another visit and see how Daniel was getting 
along. He was working on a lease with another 
party, but not making much, yet they had a pros- 
pect of striking a pocket of good ore ; more than 
I could say. He had no thought of going with me 
on another wild goose chase. While there I called 
on my friend Pope. He seemed to think some one 



184 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

had not treated him right in leaving him out of my 
prospecting venture. He could count himself over 
$1,000 ahead in his association with me as a part- 
ner. Mr. E. Q. Walcot the law partner of Mr. Pope 
I had met before quite often. He is the only person 
I ever saw who by changing his seat a little, could 
write as well with the left hand as with the right. 
Colorado is called the Centennial State because it 
was admitted into the Union in 1876. Mr. Walcot 
became a famous senator from this state, a few 
years later, gaining a reputation as such in Eu- 
rope as well as America. 

Part of my business now was to talk about the 
wonderful resources of the San Juan country,, and 
the vast amount of mineral waiting for skillful 
miners. The editor of the paper was kind enough 
to mention that I was on my way to this section 
for the second time. This of itself caused many to 
ask me the best way to get there. The output of 
the mines around Georgetown was not nearly as 
good as it had been, in fact some of them were 
"playing out." Many had already left, and others 
were thinking about it. A mining town can un- 
make just about as fast as it built up. 

The dilemma that had troubled my mind regard- 
ing how to get back to the Animus river dis- 
appeared one day in about ten minutes. Dr. Bell, 
who owned a team and wagon, proposed to carry 
me and what supplies I might wish, free of charge, 
to pilot them through the mountains, a near way 
that could be taken. Two other men, Steve Baxter 
and another man whose name I am not able to 
recall, were included in the transport, and all of 
them about ready to start. We went by Idaho 
Springs, and the first night out, camped not far 
from the hotel thirty miles west of Denver where 
I had stopped on my way to hunt Burkholder. 

From this point we had a direct route through 
Fairplay, the bridge across the Arkansas River, and 
the low gap between the Sangre de Cristo range, 
and the Cochatopa hills, cutting off, so to speak' 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 185 

an elbow of nearly two hundred miles. Reaching 
Saguache we stopped in front of the merchant's 
store that had formerly been very kind to me. He 
was even more so now for I brought him new cus- 
tomers. We remained there two nights and one day 
in order to rest and ask a few questions about the 
mines and the road leading to them. I met several 
parties that had heard I was the first one to dis- 
cover mines at the forks of the Gunnison. We 
bought supplies to last two months, as they were 
much cheaper than they would be in the mining 
region. 

In passing the forks of the Gunnison, where the 
three men were killed, and where we had over- 
taken the road-builders some nine months previous, 
I noticed ten houses already built and others in 
process of construction, and they had named the 
town Lake City. Whether they knew the pauper 
quality of the ore or not I never asked, it was my 
policy to let every one find that out for himself. 
Possibly there might be good mines there, but I 
had spent eight days traveling over the adjacent 
mountains without finding anything of that cha- 
racter. 

Finally we reached our destination and struck 
camp within a few hundred yards of the place 
where Daniel and I made up our minds to leave 
the country on account of "pauperosity" of the 
mines. This was a nice plateau of several hundred 
acres between the head waters of the two rivers, 
and good grazing for stock as well as a fine field 
for prospecting. Several houses had been built since 
I left, and there was some talk of calling the place 
Ouray. The doctor and his men built them a cabin 
the first thing, but for myself I preferred camping 
out in the open until a definite inducement pre- 
sented itself. 

It was now about the first of June. My object 
in view was well defined and the hard part of the 
work was over. I wrote Judge Harmon of my safe 
arrival and that he might look for a box of mineral 



186 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

as soon as possible, and a more lengthy letter 
would follow. Some of the mines previously disco- 
vered, and partially developed, were only two miles 
from camp, and with hammer and drill I made 
them a friendly visit. The bright looking stuff, 
formerly brought to light which passed for ore, 
now had more the appearance of black rock, but 
this appearance was only on the outside, as it was 
bright when again broken. 

Three or four shots each in two or three of the 
best looking mines enabled me to select a number 
of fine specimens which were carefully wrapped in 
paper to protect them from the air. To make more 
sure of their value, several assays were made with 
the same results as formerly. In passing along, 
though not specially looking for it, I made a very 
promising discovery less than a mile from camp. 
Prospecting like everything else becomes a habit. 
It was part of my nature, whether thinking about 
it or not, to look for mineral croppings and float 
rock, and this habit followed me the balance of 
my life. 

The mine we had worked on more than all the 
others was on the mountain above Eureka Gulch 
some ten miles distant, but it was necessary to get 
ore from this mine to complete the shipment. 
There was no other way only to walk down there, 
even if I had to walk back the same day. I found 
my old friends that owned the mine with ruby sil- 
ver, formerly mentioned, but they had been absent 
during the winter. They very kindly invited me to 
remain overnight with them. We had a great deal 
to talk about, though nothing said in regard to 
the low grade character of their ore. I knew this 
subject was not for discussion. They still had full 
ideas about their ability as prospectors. 

When men know a great deal that is not true, 
there is very little to be gained by pointing out 
their errors. They mentioned as a fact that a mine 
grew more valuable in its ore as depth was gained 
from the surface, whether by sinking or drifting on 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 187 

the vein, and this was conceded as a fact by every- 
one they had talked with. To this I replied it was 
not according to my experience and observation. If 
they were in Georgetown and went to the Burleigh 
tunnel they would find where it crossed a mine a 
thousand feet from the surface, and it was worth- 
less at that depth as well as at the top. Take the 
Terrible, Dives and Equator mines, each one had 
produced over a million dollars, and were down to 
a depth of four to six hundred feet, yet the value 
of the ore per ton had neither increased or de- 
creased, and other mines would show the same 
results. 

This is mentioned to show one reason why the 
prospectors continued to have confidence in the 
valuable resources of the country. When asked 
my opinion of the country and its mines I told 
them it was like every other man's, worth very 
little ; nothing was any value only cold stern facts. 
It will be seen by this that the subject of the ore 
being low grade was ignored. These men like nearly 
all others were getting their mine ready for sale 
to some men with less sense than money. It was 
very unpopular to talk about the value of the ore. 
The slogan was quantity and not quality. 

With a fine specimen of twenty pounds I made 
my way back into camp, a little tired but not out 
of breath. After making my first shipment of fifty 
pounds, and writing a leter in regard to the mining 
activities of the country and many other things 
"appertaining thereto," I felt the burden of my duty 
had been performed. With this part of our agree- 
ment on my part filled in first class shape I felt 
like moving out on "Easy Street" to work or play 
as it might suit my taste. I wrote the Judge a 
second letter in regard to my new discovery, pro- 
posing to ship them some of the mineral if they 
wished to see it. 

Weeks and weeks passed and no letter. The time 
seemed long to me, for naturally enough I wanted 
to be back in my native home, yet if we made a 



188 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

failure in our efforts, the cause must be on some 
other shoulders. Finally I received a letter acknow- 
ledging receipt of box and contents. The Judge 
generally wrote long letters but this was brief and 
rather formal, in which he stated they were making 
some head-way in forming the stock mining com- 
pany, though capital at that time was inclined 
to be a little shy. From this I inferred they were 
meeting with very little success, which would not 
surprise me at all. 

Another small shipment of mineral was made, this 
time from the new discovery, followed by a letter 
which they could use if it suited their purpose to do 
so. In this letter I asked them if they had any sug- 
gestion to make that would benefit the company. I 
was ready and willing to do anything on my part 
of the enterprise. A month or more slipped away 
and yet no instructions or advice. There was only 
one legitimate conclusion reasonable to me, that 
they were making a failure, and would not admit 
the fact by writing. 

Cold weather was approaching, which meant 
deep snow in that country. I had written several 
letters without any reply, and I began to think 
about some way of getting back to Georgetown, 
for Dr. Bell and his party were, like other pros- 
pectors, enthused over their prospects of getting 
several mines in shape for a big sale, so their 
movements were uncertain. A stray pony had taken 
up with the doctor's horses, supposed to belong to 
some prospector. He had tried to run the pony off, 
but it would not run. As it was gentle, I asked the 
doctor to loan me his saddle and bridle, and I 
would ride it around and find an owner. 

By visiting the different camps and not being 
able to find an owner I decided it did not have any. 
I rode all the way to Silverton, twenty-five miles 
distant, stayed all night, paid a man $2.00 to write 
a few lines on a book describing the pony which 
he called "posting." While there, parties found a 
mark on the animal showing it belonged to the 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 189 

Indians, and now according to law belonged to me 
as much as anyone, as somebody ought to take 
care of it. Under this version of ownership I bought 
a saddle, bridle and blanket, fixed them up in a 
bundle and carried them back with me to camp. 
There was no earthly use to remain longer in this 
section. I had done my duty to the best of my 
ability, and was now equipped for the return trip. 
Wagons occasionally brought supplies of different 
kinds to the few merchants in this country. I pre- 
ferred to have company at least as far as Saguache, 
and it was nearly a week before I found a wagon 
returning to that place. As we passed through Lake 
City I saw they were still building houses, and 
one man was nearly ready to issue a paper for 
the reading public. This was the western way of 
doing things. 

We camped one night on the Saboia where we 
had heard the beavers slide in the water. A man 
had built him a house there within a hundred 
yards of the place where we first camped, and had 
his wife and children with him. He also had cattle 
and sheep grazing on the rich valley below, for- 
merly mentioned. Again I remained in Saguache 
two nights and a day, for I seemed to like the 
people. By making long and short rides, to suit the 
distance, I managed to find a house to stay at all 
the way to Georgetown, except one night, I 
camped all alone near the lake where we saw the 
greyhounds chase the jack rabbit. Next day I 
reached the little old cabin a few days earlier than 
the year before. This time I sold the pony and the 
outfit for $35.00 to a livery man, which was a 
good deal less than it was worth, as it was a 
good one. 

My career as a prospector and miner was now 
about to reach the closing period. I had sowed the 
last handful of wild oats, and the wild goose no- 
tions had been eliminated from my system. There 
was a charm and fascination about the adjacent 
high cliffs and the distant azure piercing peaks. I 



190 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

could see them today and tomorrow, but in a few 
days I must bid them adieu, perhaps forever, at 
least I felt that way. 

In a casual way I met my friend Bill Moore. He 
had just returned from some point back East where 
he had made a mining sale of some character. I 
asked him why he did not turn his mining interest 
toward the San Juan country, and told him that 
there were more mines in that section than he 
could shake a stick at in a week. He replied that 
reliable information had reached him that the mines 
were of a low grade quality, which would by no 
means suit Eastern capital. This was the whole 
thing in a nut shell, and explained why my part- 
ners had failed to get up their company. When it 
came to a show-down they had nothing to sell. 

To my great surprise I met a man that asked me 
if I owned a mine called the Peru, and would I sell 
it cheap. This was the first mine of my own that 
I worked on in the country, and assayed only four- 
teen ounces to the ton. I asked him to make me an 
offer, remarking at the same time that it ought 
to be worth at least $500.00. He offered $200.00 
and I said to him, "Make it $300.00, and we will 
trade." "All right, make out the deed and it is a 
go," he replied. We went to the Recorder's office 
to see the description and finding a blank deed 
there I soon filled it out and signed it, and he paid 
me the money. This all happened within an hour 
from the time I first met him. 

But this was not all. I had loaned a man named 
Kimberlain $200.00 which I never expected to get. 
He was now working on a lease and taking out 
good money, and when I presented his note he gave 
me a check for all he owed me. It began to look 
like things were coming my way. Maybe the long 
"lean place" that hung like an incumbus over all 
my efforts had at last given way to brighter days. 
It is a mighty long lane that has no turn, and it 
was high time to reach an angle of some kind. This 
all took time, and yes, my wages were still going 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 191 

on at $4.00 per day and I was in a big hurry, too. 

Only one more day before my departure, and 
part of this I spent in visiting Daniel on the moun- 
tain at his lease. Sometimes he received good pay 
and at others very little. He had been working 
there nearly a whole year, barely making wages. 
I handed him a deed to the cabin and to all my 
mining interest in that section, and told him to do 
as he pleased with it. I regretted to leave him in 
the mountains all alone more than I can tell here, 
but we both understood well enough that each one 
decided for himself the best thing to do. He re- 
mained there twelve years longer before returning 
to his native home. 

On the first day of December I met both my 
partners in Denver City after an absence of seven 
months. I gave them a brief report of my trip, 
though I had written most of the facts. I was glad 
to hear them say that our failure was no fault of 
mine. Their part of the expenses aside from my 
wages was very little. Each one drew his check 
for $280.00 which added to the amount on hand 
made nearly $1,400. quite an item considering the 
new responsibilities I had assumed. There was no 
use explaining to me the cause of their failure, for 
I almost knew that from the beginning. The Judge 
told me they were getting along fine with the 
company until a few smart Alex's insisted on an 
assay. 

But the greatest disappointment was yet to come 
when Judge Harmon in a quiet inoffensive way told 
me it was impossible for him to pay me nearly 
$2,000. he had of my money. I had met with dis- 
appointments for many years, but this was the 
climax. In a business kind of way he handed me his 
note with positive assurance he would send me 
the money by the first of next April, at which time 
he would receive a lot of money from parties in 
Mississippi. As this was the best I could do, there 
was no use making things worse by trying to settle 
the matter in a personal difficulty, for then I might 



192 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES 

never get it. I might say in this connection that at 
the appointed time he sent me every dollar includ- 
ing the interest. 

My career in the Rocky Mountains had now ter- 
minated forever, though I felt a strain of sadness 
in leaving the grand old peaks and canyons. They 
had for me a weird charm and fascination in spite 
of the many hardships and privations. It was fully 
my intention to visit them at some future period if 
a favorable opportunity presented itself. Long 
years have rolled away leaving their imprint upon 
the scroll of time. With only a slight jar I passed 
the eightieth mile post on life's journey, and for 
all I know those old frowning cliffs and yawning 
canyons are still waiting for me to return and claim 
my own. 

While still in the vigor of manhood, yet I was 
willing to throw up the sponge, to use a pugilist's 
term, and try my efforts at something else. True 
enough my fondest hopes had been wrecked, still 
I had one consolation, that of making an honest 
effort. After all, mediocrity in life may be the best 
in many respects. Of course this depends upon the 
kind of a man one is. According to my idea, life 
was made up of events, and viewing life from this 
peak, a person could live more in five years with 
a million dollars to spend, than he could in fifty 
years plodding with barely enough to make buckle 
and tongue meet. 

In looking back over these written pages the 
past seems to rise up before me like a dream, and 
many events not here recorded are still fresh in 
my memory. The romance of a Western life, which 
once had its charms and allurements, had in a 
measure grown monotonous. In bidding adieu to 
these high altitudes I fully realized the fact that I 
was nearly thirty-eight years of age, and that the 
flower of my manhood had been spent in trying to 
get rich quick in an honest way, and had failed. I 
was now ready and willing to follow the more plod- 
ding pursuits of life, yet I had no regrets for 
making the effort. 



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